tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post7370499895403520013..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: Max Hastings, The Secret WarJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-28003852962685431872016-08-22T21:05:03.165-04:002016-08-22T21:05:03.165-04:00Polish mathematicians first cracked early Enigmas ...Polish mathematicians first cracked early Enigmas in 1932, and they shared what they knew with the British and French. Which was no doubt a huge help. But the Enigmas of 1942 and later were vastly more complex, with millions of times more possible combinations, requiring large leaps of sophistication and raw computer power to break. So there was still a great deal for Turing and company to do. As for the bombes, perhaps the Poles made some, but everybody was making calculating machines in the 1930s; the Americans broke Japanese codes using IBM punchcard machines. Which is why I wave off all arguments about who made the "first computer." Colossus, made to Turing's design, was a great leap ahead in computing and if the Brtish had not been so determined to keep it secret (for no good reason, really) other earl computers like von Neumann's at Princeton would be less famous.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-38182039135454783092016-08-22T16:56:41.353-04:002016-08-22T16:56:41.353-04:00British have not break the "unbreakable"...British have not break the "unbreakable" Enigma. Polish mathematicians did that, and then they transferred the details of the method and plans of the prototypes of "bombes", mechanical devices, to the British. szopenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02234132446740838968noreply@blogger.com