Turing's Cathedral

[markgritter]

I just started "Turing's Cathedral", which looks interesting, but nobody appears to have told George Dyson how a computer works:Since a 10-bit order code, combined with 10 bits specifying a memory address, returned a string of 40 bits, the result was a chain reaction analogous to the two-for-one fission of neutrons within the core of an atomic bomb

Comments

[markgritter]

Also he keeps referring to shift registers as capable of performing all the arithmetic operations, which is not true as far as I can tell. They're very helpful if you want to do division or multiplication, but you can't implement addition with just shifts.