Konrad Zuse und die Baustatik - Zur Formierung der Computerstatik (Teil 2)

Konrad Zuse and the theory of structures — on the formation of computational mechanics (part 2).

It was in 1936 that Konrad Zuse generalised the program-type calculation scheme, which he had developed in his student project of 1934 using the example of the statically indeterminate analysis, to form the "computing plan or program method" (Konrad Zuse). Between 1936 and 1941 he continued to develop this method, in the first place for structural and aviation engineering. These numerical computing plans formed one fundamental element in the historico-logical evolution of Zuse's program-controlled automatic computers Z1 (1938) and Z3 (1941). The numerical computing plans also mark the first step in the initial phase of computational mechanics. The second step (1942—1949) began with Zuse's "Plankalkül" (Calculus of Programs) — the first "software development platform" (Peter Jan Pahl) —, the heart of which is his general calculation concept, which Zuse developed from the formal system concept of mathematics and which contains numerical computation as a special case. Both of these steps are presented in detail below and rounded off with an illustrative outline of the constitution phase of computational mechanics which began around 1950.