History of Computer Programming - Part 2: Machine Level Languages

In Z Beginning...

As we saw, the beginning of the industrial age brought with it the kind of complexity that would reduce human calculators to tears. We're just not made to do complex counting and equations, you know? Well, that's just what Konrad Zuse of Germany thought: Why should we have to do equations that machines can do? So he went and built the Z1, a first-generation computer featuring mechanical memory, arithmetic units and a binary based language system (in both input , processing and output).

Basically, the Z series machines processed input via punched tape. As long as the user submitted valid arithmetic in binary form, the computer could handle it. As such, these machines are considered the first freely programmable computer based on binary floating point numbers and a binary switching system.

This "first generation" method of interacting with machines is called coding in a "machine level" language, since the input format exactly matches the computer's processing format.

A Bit of Theory
If your going to write a masters thesis, try to make it as groundbreaking as Claude Elwood Shannon's A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, (MIT, 1937). This paper made Shannon pretty much the father of electronic digital computation. In the first part, Shannon uses concepts from boolean algebra and binary arithmetic to demonstrate how to simplify the arrangement of electromechanical relays used in telephone routing switches. Then he proceeds to show the real value of the relationship between binary math and these electromagnetic structures: look! since we can represent boolean algebra functions with the layout of electronic circuits, then we can use the arrangements of electronic relays to solve complex math problems!

Connecting the Dots
So far, both Zuse and Shannon represent hardware innovators, and as such, their machines only work when you speak in "their" language: the language of 1's and 0's (or left's and right's, or on's and off's, etc.). This language is effective and fast--but it is also hard to write and debug. Good thing there's been some software innovations to match and complement these hardware based achievements; otherwise I'd be writing and you'd be reading only 1's and 0's!

Resources
Zuse's son documents his father's career
Wikipedia on Shannon
Wikipedia on the History of Computers