Sonorous.

Li Zitao knocked on the door, the footsteps gradually approached, and the tension in his heart relaxed.

Although the person who is about to meet has single-handedly created a giant industry that will be established less than a hundred years in the future, he firmly controls the cutting-edge technology of the industry.

But judging by his achievements today, it seems that it is the other party who needs to look up, not him.

The door opened.

The first thing that catches the eye is the gray hair, the face is well maintained, and there is no wrinkle feeling after the skin is loose and collapsed, but full and ruddy.

"Charlie Lee. Thomas J. Watson, who was standing in the room, smiled.

Thomas J. Watson. Li Zitao stretched out his hand and smiled: "The way you meet is impressive." ”

"I just hate the hassle, there are a lot of people staring at IBM. Watson invited him in, and music was playing in the spacious room.

"How about some whiskey?" Watson asked, lifting the gramophone's magnetic needle and walking over to the wine cabinet and pulling out an unbranded bottle of liquor.

"No problem. Letting his body sink into the sofa to relax, Li Zitao crossed his legs and made a relaxed expression.

"Taste it, I made it myself. Watson placed the glass in front of him and sat across from him to sip the whiskey in his hand.

Li Zitao was not in a hurry, he looked around and didn't care, and after seeing the refrigerator next to him, he thought about it and wanted to get up to the door, find ice cubes from it and add them to the cup.

"The water from the melting ice cubes will destroy its purest mouthfeel, and the taste will be affected. Watson spoke, but he was talking about adding ice.

"Compared to the original taste, I like to choose what I like, after all, only what I like is the best, right?"

Li Zitao took a big sip, put down the wine glass and said pointedly.

"Looks like we're the same kind of people, Charlie... I heard you're interested in IBM?" Watson leaned back and said, "Tell me, what changes can you bring to it?"

"Funds, IBM is not short for the time being, contacts, IBM seems to be enough, knowledge... Sorry, I don't seem to understand. ”

Li Zitao seemed to be in self-denial, and suddenly paused as he spoke: "How about creativity? It can allow IBM to create innovative ideas of the times." ”

IBM is not short of money, nor is there a shortage of talent, product innovation and quality are the key to IBM's success, and it is also what makes it where it is today.

But when it comes to creativity, who better than this 'return' from the 21st century?

"Tell me about it. Watson looked at him with suspicion, creativity, could it be a puncher?

"It's not worth it to say it. Li Zitao shook his head.

Watson thought hesitantly, then looked up and said, "If your creativity can impress me, I can agree to whatever you want." ”

"Good. Watson's cheerfulness was something he hadn't expected, and when he took the pen out of his pocket, Danny had already taken the paper on the table.

"Watson, have you ever heard of the analyzer?" asked Li Zitao as he wrote and drew on the paper without raising his head.

"You mean Charles Barbeitch, the English mathematician, the inventor made the machine? I remember it was called a difference machine, not an analysis machine.

IBM's existing computational punch machine is better than it, smaller in size, and easier to calculate, if that's what you're talking about, I don't think there's any, again..."

The disappointment and contempt in Watson's eyes gradually faded, and his gaze was already drawn by the mechanical instrument drawn by Li Zitao on the paper.

"What is this?" looked at the box on the top of the paper, looking at the whole composed of dense pipelines on it, and my heart became inexplicably excited.

He had a hunch that this was the future of IBM, and while it was a strange feeling, Watson had now put all his attention on the patterns on paper.

"I call it an electronic computer, and its basic principle comes from the analysis machine, which is an enhanced version of what you call a differential computer, and its maker is also Babechi

If you want to know better, you can visit the Royal Academy Museum in London, where Babech put the original form of the machine for people to see.

Now let's talk about this electronic computer, which is equivalent to its gears, which is also a storehouse, in the original machine, each gear can store 10 numbers.

Here is the relay, now it is replaced by a tube, here... The information is recorded on the punch card for encoding, and then the punch card is connected together in strings.

Write a fixed calculation method, then can you form an instruction to let it automatically perform arithmetic operations,

If you can make it have the ability to do logical calculations and store data, think about it, Watson, what will IBM get?"

Under the temptation of Li Zitao, Watson instinctively murmured: "In the future..."

"That's right, it's the future. Li Zitao slapped the table excitedly, bringing back to Watson, who was in deep thought.

Looking at the young man with a complicated face, Watson couldn't understand him a little.

"IBM's punch machine is very good, but it can't do more complex calculations, with the needs of artillery rays and large laboratories, it takes at least one or two hundred people to complete the work with the punch machine, and it takes 40 days to complete.

It only takes one day to get the right value. ”

When he said this, Li Zitao was actually weak-hearted, because he was completely fooling now, relying on the memory and graphics of the first generation of electronic computers in his mind.

Besides, as you said, such a complex calculation method is only needed by specialized laboratories and the military. ”

Watson rubbed the corners of his eyes to calm himself down, but he opened his slightly squinted eyes from time to time, and the action of peeking at the drawings on the table with his spare eyes couldn't hide Li Zitao at all.

"This is a problem for scientists, and if it had been studied, IBM would have gone bankrupt. Li Zitao's words caused Watson's pupils to contract.

Finding that the other party was frightened by himself, Li Zitao secretly snickered in his heart: "If Watson knew how big this thing was and how expensive it was to build one, he would probably have gotten up and left by now." ’

A behemoth like the first-generation electronic computer could not have been widely manufactured, and its role was only to assist large laboratories and the military in making accurate and fast calculations.

But just as it was inspired by the 'analysis machine', the future electronic computer was born only by studying and optimizing its principles.

From the 16th-century 'adder,' to the 19th-century 'puncher,' to the later 'differential machine.' ’

Then there is the more powerful 'analysis machine,' and the idea of this machine is the conceptual basis of the computer of the future, and the two are very similar with only minor differences.

It was this small step, a small step, that finally led to the birth of the electronic computer, until the popularization of computers and the advent of the Internet era.

If there is no such small step, a small step of progress, perhaps in the 21st century, mankind will still be complacent about being in the age of steam.