雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第9章:退隱山林(62)
A bright band on the monitor tube indicated that the waiting loop had been entered. When this had been achieved, you ran upstairs and put the tape in the tape reader and then returned to the machine room.
If the machine was still obeying the input loop you cAlled to the engineer to switch on the writing current, and cleared the accumulator (allowing the control to emerge from the loop).
如果機器仍然處於就緒循環，你就可以去叫工程師，給它切換到寫入電流，然後清空累加器（讓控制信號出來）。With luck, the tape was read. As soon as the pattern on the monitor showed that input was ended the engineer switched off the write current to the drum.
如果你運氣夠好，紙帶就被讀取了。顯示器的模式一旦表明輸入結束，工程師馬上把寫入電流切換到磁鼓。關掉書寫電流到鼓狀物。
As every vehicle that drove past was a potential source of spurious digits, it usually took many attempts to get a tape in - each attempt needing another trip up to the tape room.
因爲每一個傳輸環節都有可能產生錯誤，所以往往要試很多次才能將紙帶輸入，而每試一次，你都需要跑到樓上去。In fact, writing from the tubes on to the magnetic drum was all but impossible on the prototype.
從射線管寫入磁鼓是一個非常重要的過程，Alan wrote9: Judged from the point of view of the programmer, the least reliable part of the machine appeared to be the magnetic writing facilities.
圖靈對此寫道：從編程者的角度看來，這臺機器最不可靠的部分，似乎就是磁寫入設備。The effects of incorrect writing were however so much more disastrous than any other mistake which could be made by the machine, that automatic writing was practically never done.
寫入錯誤的後果，比其它任何錯誤都更加嚴重，所以自動寫入從來都沒有成功過……Other serious sources of error were the failure of storage tubes and the multiplier.
其它嚴重的錯誤還會發生在存儲管和乘法器……In the hot summer of 1950 it was not unknown for computer users to be sweltering in 90°F heat, and banging the racks with a hammer to detect loose valves.
在1950年夏天，計算機使用者們，在32攝氏度的酷暑中，還要舉着大錘子，猛砸機器的架子，以檢查鬆掉的電子管。The autumn of 1949 saw what was to be Alan's only titbit of hardware design for the Ferranti machine.
1949年秋天，圖靈對弗蘭蒂機器的硬件設計，提出了很少的一些建議。One of the hardware functions on which he had insisted was that of a random number generator - a feature not included in his ACE design.
比如他建議加裝一個隨機數產生器，這是他的ACE設計中所沒有的。His own electronic knowledge stopped short of the necessary practical detail, but with Geoff Tootill's collaboration he was still able to design his own system.
他自己的電子知識很有限，缺乏一些必要的實踐經驗，但如果在托蒂爾的協助下，他就完全能夠設計出這個系統。
