Z. /zed/ 1. (After {Zermelo-FrSnkel set theory}) A {specification language} developed by the {Programming Research Group} at Oxford University around 1980. Z is used for describing and modelling computing systems. It is based on {axiomatic set theory} and {first order predicate logic}. Z is written using many non-{ASCII} symbols. It was used in the {IBM} {CICS} project. See also {Z++}. ["Understanding Z", J.M. Spivey, Cambridge U Press 1988]. 2. A {stack}-based, complex arithmetic {simulation} language from {ZOLA Technologies}. (1995-08-11) Z++. An {object-oriented} extension of {Z}. ["Z++, an Object-Oriented Extension to Z", Lano, Z User Workshop, Oxford 1990, Springer Workshops in Computing, 1991, pp.151-172]. (1995-04-22) Z-1013. A {Z80} {clone} home computer running at 1 MHz. The Z-1013 computer was introduced in 1986 in East Germany. The computer contained a {tape} for storing and loading {programs} and had an unusual {keyboard}. (2004-03-24) Z180. An 8-bit microprocessor, code compatible with the {Zilog Z80} and based on a design from {Hitachi} which is in turn based on the Zilog Z80. [Manufacturer?] (1995-04-22) Z3. The third computer designed and built by {Konrad Zuse} and the first {digital computer} to successfully run real programs. The computer was ready in 1941, five years before {ENIAC}. Zuse began his work on program-driven calculating machines in 1935. His two predessors of the Z3, the Z1 and Z2, were unsuccessful mechanical calculating machines. The Z3 was delivered to the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fnr Luftfahrt (German Experimental Department of Aeronautics) in Berlin and was used for deciphering coded messages. A 1960 reconstruction of the Z3 is in the Deutsche Museum in Munich. The Z3 used about 2600 relays of the kind used in telecommunications. Zuse wrote and implemented the language {Plankalknl} on the Z3. Programs were punched into cinefilm. Zuse built some more computers after World War II, including the Z3's successor, the Z4, which was set up at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Of the potential rival claimants to the title of first programmable computer, {Babbage} (UK, c1840) planned but was not able to build a {decimal}, programmable machine. {Atanasoff}'s {ABC}, completed in 1942 was a special purpose calculator, like those of {Pascal} (1640) and {Leibniz} (1670). Eckert and Mauchly's {ENIAC} (US), as originally released in 1946, was programmable only by manual rewiring or, in 1948, with switches. None of these machines was freely programmable. Neither was {Turing} et al.'s {Colossus} (UK, 1943-45). {Aiken}'s {MARK I} (1944) was programmable but still decimal, without separation of storage and control. [Features? Where was it designed? Contemporaries?] {(http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~zuse)}. {(http://www.epemag.com/zuse)}. (2003-10-01) Z39.50. {ANSI Z39.50} Z8. {Zilog Z8} Z80. {Zilog Z80} Z8000. {Zilog Z8000} za. The {country code} for South Africa. (1999-01-27)
