Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

526 Zuse, Konradneeded would make them impracticable for a large-scalemachine.) During the 1950s and 1960s, Zuse ran a computercompany, ZUSE KG, which eventually produced electronicvacuum tube computers.Zuse’s most interesting contribution to computer sciencewould not be his hardware but a programming languagecalled Plankalkül or “programming calculus.” Although thelanguage was never implemented, it was far in advance ofits time in many ways. It started with the radically simpleconcept of grouping individual bits to form whatever datastructures were desired. It also included program modulesthat could operate on input variables and store their resultsin output variables (see procedures and functions). Programswere written using a notation similar to mathematicalmatrices.Zuse labored in obscurity even within the computer sciencefraternity. However, toward the end of his life his workbegan to be publicized. He received numerous honorarydegrees from European universities as well as awards andmemberships in scientific and engineering academies. Zusealso took up abstract painting in his later years. He died onDecember 18, 1995.Further ReadingBauer, F. L., and H. Wössner. “The Plankalkül of Konrad Zuse: AForerunner of Today’s Programming Languages.” Communicationsof the ACM, vol. 15, 1972, 678–685.Lee, J. A. N. Computer Pioneers. Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE ComputerSociety Press, 1995.Zuse, Konrad. The Computer—My Life. New York: Springer-Verlag,1993.