how did Alan Turing’s first computer work?
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The “Turing machine” was a mathematical construct, used in his proof of the halting problem. Not a real computer.
The machine that worked the Enigma machine was a real computer, but the way it worked was very specific to that problem.
What do you really want explained?
What computer?
Allan Turing did create the Turing machine but it is a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine, not a real physical matching. It “worked” by following the rules that were in his paper.
He was a part of the team behind Bombe but it is not a general-purpose computer, but a specialized electromechanical machine to break the Enigma encryption. He was later involved in software development for the Manchester Mark 1.
The computer you’re probably thinking of was Collossus created by Tommy Flowers, it worked a bit like a modern computer but with valves rather then transistors.
A transistor/valve is an electronic switch which can be turned in or off with an electrical signal, these switches are the basis of all computers with on being represented by a 1 and off by 0, we call this binary though for a long time most computers are programmed using hexadecimal registers or a high-level language using something akin to plain English.
Charles Babbage’s difference engine is a good example of a computer using physical switches rather than electronic ones.
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