Z3

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:This article is about the Z3 pioneering computer from 1941. For the BMW automobile, see BMW Z3.

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Konrad Zuse's Z3 was the first working freely programmable, fully automatic machine, which attributes have often been the exact ones used as criteria in defining a computer.

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The Z3 was built with 2,200 relays, had a clock frequency of ~5–10 Hz, and a word length of 22 bits. Calculations on the computer were performed in full binary floating point arithmetic. The machine was completed in 1941 (on May 12 that year, it was successfully presented to an audience of scientists in Berlin). The original Z3 was destroyed in 1944 during an Allied bombardment of Berlin. A fully functioning replica was built in the 1960s by the originator's company Zuse KG and is on permanent display in the Deutsches Museum. In 1998 the Z3 was proven to be Turing-complete.

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Konrad Zuse: Konrad Zuse (June 22, 1910 - December 18, 1995) was a German engineer and computer pioneer. His greatest achievement was the completion of the first functional tape-stored-program-controlled computer, the Z3, in 1941....

Programmable: redirect program...

Automatic: Automatic refers to any self-operating machine or automaton. When used as a noun, it specifically means either:...