Chapter 1928 - Project Initiation

"The punched card computer system includes three most basic components—or rather, these three devices can constitute the simplest punched card computer system: the punch, the sorter, and the tabulator. Depending on the complexity of the problem, multiple devices of the same type can also be combined to flexibly respond to various business needs.

"It is worth noting that the punch is actually equivalent to the input structure of a general-purpose computer. The punched card itself is the main memory. The arithmetic parts of the sorter and tabulator are equivalent to the arithmetic logic unit of a general-purpose computer. The wiring structure is equivalent to the instruction register and controller. And the printing part of the tabulator is equivalent to the output structure. The architecture of future general-purpose computers already appeared in embryonic form in the basic composition of the punched card computer system.

"Compared to hand-cranked calculators, each basic device of the punched card computer has relatively singular functions and simpler design. With our continuous progress in electrical equipment manufacturing technology, the author believes it is feasible to directly launch the development and research of electromechanical computer systems. After all, when such computer systems developed to their peak, they involved at most about a thousand wiring jacks. For early applications, the wiring and programming process is even easier and can be realized with simple circuit boards as control mechanisms under current technology. It is even feasible to start with non-programmable specialized systems, such as census systems. As for the card reading system, it is just the simplest brush-drum structure. This structure had replaced the mercury-probe structure from when punched card computers first appeared as early as the beginning of the 20th century—ten years earlier.

"Of course, punched card computer systems also include statistical arithmetic components like addition and subtraction. In later designs, multiplication and division were included in the arithmetic components. These arithmetic components of electromechanical punched card computers often use relays and such to register values and perform calculations, with internal structures quite different from hand-cranked calculators. Developing this type of arithmetic component does not require high mechanical design and material strength, but poses certain challenges to the Senate's weak current technology development level."

After the article was published, it goes without saying that it sparked heated debate in the "tech community." The electronic computer faction immediately wrote articles opposing this project. However, because that faction split into the vacuum tube fundamentalist faction and the transistor reformist faction during the debate and started fighting each other, criticism of the electromechanical computer suddenly ceased.

Feng Nuo readily signed the "Class I Controlled Material Usage Application Form" Dr. Zhong brought over and handed it back. Then he casually started talking about punched card computers.

"You've made quite some moves lately. I've read several of your articles. The data is substantial and the arguments reasonable. It's just that you're trying to snatch food from the hand-cranked calculator project—those guys won't be happy," Zhong Lishi said with a frown, taking the Punched Card Computers volume Feng Nuo had dug out from the Data Center.

"Where would I have the ability to do this project alone? Even if the project launches, I have to bring in people from the mechanical and electrical sectors to do it together. I just play the role of an advisor," Feng Nuo said modestly. He knew that among the key support targets of the Second Five-Year Plan, the Ministry of Culture and Science had a relatively large say in precision instrument equipment projects. As the head of the Technology Department, Dr. Zhong wielded considerable influence. Some projects were even undertaken by Dr. Zhong himself.

Currently, these projects hadn't officially launched. Under the guiding spirit of the Senate's Third Plenary Session, the degree of regularization—or bureaucratization—of various affairs was increasing day by day.

What the Plenary Session passed was just an "Outline." Next, the Planning Commission would convene Elders from ministries like Industry, Technology, and Medical to write "Guidelines" based on the "Outline." After the "Guidelines" were released, various project teams would start writing "Applications." There were no conditions for anonymous review of "Applications"—after all, there were too few people. In the vast majority of fields, the "Outline," "Guideline," and "Application" were probably all written by the same Elder. Moreover, climbing the tech tree was currently like playing a game with a walkthrough or acting in a movie with a script. There was no issue of evaluating innovation and feasibility. So the review process was effectively skipped. The "Application" was more like documentation of the R&D and manufacturing plan, but project members and Elders from similar discipline groups still had to sit together and discuss, which—although less efficient—at least pooled wisdom.

The final step was budget and material coordination by the Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission. At this stage, departments generally divided the cake and reported the totals. The Ministry of Finance side was just a formality. The real wrangling happened over controlled materials at the Planning Commission.

Budgets weren't itemized either. Elders didn't need travel expenses for meetings, so most budgets covered material, energy, equipment, and testing costs. Labor could directly use naturalized citizens from the supporting unit, or even natives—just the cost of a Filipino maid.

However, what was special this time was that the Planning Commission had specifically set aside a small experimental budget to encourage naturalized technical workers, research assistants, students, and apprentices in factories, laboratories, hospitals, and schools to engage in technical improvement and innovation. They would report to the responsible ministry through a combination of individual application and unit recommendation, and funding would be decided after centralized review.

Feng Nuo's plan was to persuade Zhong Lishi to participate in the drafting and discussion of "Guidelines" for precision instrument equipment manufacturing, communicate directly with Elders of the hand-cranked calculator project team, and expand the project into a "Mechanical Computer Project" that included punched card computer systems. He also planned to pull in people from the electrical and postal sectors. After all, it involved electromechanical system design and manufacturing as well as information carrier standard setting.

"I've already called Shao Zong and Tom Liu and roughly communicated the idea. They're very interested in participating in this project. Two days ago, Yang Yun from the Ministry of Civil Affairs came here to... fix his computer, and we chatted for a long time. He was very interested in the census example in the Weekly Developments article, saying the Ministry of Civil Affairs plans to launch the first census this year or next. If we can produce relevant equipment, they can consider using it. He also strongly supports quickly launching a punched card information storage and processing system, as well as punched card resident ID documents. His personal computer has the most statistics of all kinds, and this malfunction scared him quite a bit." Although mentioning computer repairs was still somewhat embarrassing, it did demonstrate that Feng Nuo knew quite a few people and maintained good relationships.

Zhong Lishi was a bit surprised by Feng Nuo's improved ability to mobilize support—getting the major clients lined up so quickly. But thinking again, these departments had enormous needs for statistics and retrieval, so they would welcome any device that could improve work efficiency. The demand was rigid and huge. Feng Nuo's proposal had hit the mark.

He thought for a moment and said, "Next week we'll hold a coordination meeting for projects related to precision instrument equipment manufacturing. You should come and participate in the discussion. Everything is waiting to be done. We only have projects lacking people to do them, not people worrying about finding projects."

"That's excellent. I understand this well. After all, I'm considered the IT guy from the Planning Commission, and many in the Industrial Sector use supercomputing, so I'm familiar with them." Feng Nuo breathed a sigh of relief. This was basically settled.

At this moment, Feng Shan brought two cups of tea to them. She was still wearing the Fangcaodi girls' uniform. Besides the two white lines on the sailor suit collar indicating the selection group, a Morning Star symbol signifying "Normal School" had been added, indicating she was a student qualified to "teach classes."

Zhong Lishi looked at Feng Shan and said with a smile, "Oh, so this is... I heard Little Ying mention you. Heard your mathematics is very impressive, better than many Elders. Interested in coming to work at our Taibai Observatory after graduation?"

Feng Shan responded graciously: "Thank you for the compliment, Chief Zhong. There are classmates better at math than me. Besides, Sister Xiao Ying's erudition is unmatched by anyone in our cohort. I still have much to learn from her."

"Little Ying is transferring to the Academy in a few days. Didn't you plan to let her transfer too? With her qualifications, it's definitely no problem."

"Haven't planned that yet. Feng Shan and Little Ying are a bit different after all. Also, she's somewhat specialized in her subjects. Particularly, some grades aren't high, so her comprehensive assessment score isn't enough to enter the fast track group. Besides, Fangcaodi values her quite a bit now. Although nominally a middle school student, she doesn't need to attend math classes anymore—instead, she teaches others. Other courses are also optional. She already has a lot of freedom. However," he changed the subject, "a girl learning math well and fast before middle school doesn't necessarily mean she's a math genius or anything. Back then she did surprise me, finishing junior high math in just over three years. But actually, another four years have passed now, and she's only at the level of basically mastering calculus."

"'Only basically mastering'—did you master calculus in high school?"

"Yeah, she's indeed better than me. Not to mention high school—even now I can only give her a cursory introduction to some modern mathematics. But she isn't the strongest in math at Fangcaodi. There are stronger talents."

Dr. Zhong nodded. He had indeed heard of several "eccentric talents" at Fangcaodi. In terms of mathematics level, they were material for the University of Science and Technology of China's Youth Class in the old timeline.

Feng Nuo pulled Feng Shan's hand, making her stand closer. Zhong Lishi noticed the girl's body stiffen for an instant and couldn't help smiling slightly.

"I actually wonder if it's good for her to be stuck in mathematics all her life. Even if she's better than me, compared to those math geniuses or mathematicians from before, she's really nothing special. Her rapid rise now is all because she's 'learning' the higher mathematics knowledge we brought. Earlier it was lectures. Now it relies mainly on self-study, with a few Elders able to give her slight guidance. But the ability to truly face the unknown void, discover, summarize, raise questions, and prove theorems yourself—that's the essential quality for being a mathematician."

(End of Chapter)