Colossus

Product Description

At last
- the secrets of Bletchley Parks powerful codebreaking computers. This is a history of Colossus the worlds first fully-functioning electronic digital computer. Colossus was used during the Second World War at the Government Code & Cypher School at Bletchley Park where it played an invaluable role cracking enemy codes. Until very recently much about the Colossus machine was shrouded in secrecy largely because the codes that were employed remained in use by the British security services until a short time ago. This book only became possible due to the declassification in the US of wartime documents. With an introductory essay on cryptography & the history of code-breaking by Simon Singh this book reveals the workings of Colossus & the extraordinary staff at Bletchley Park through personal accounts by those who lived & worked with the computer. Among them is the testimony of Thomas Flowers who was the architect of Colossus & whose personal account written shortly before he died is published here for the first time. Other essays consider the historical importance of this remarkable machine & its impact on the generations of computing technology that followed.