Wilkes visited the NPL a week later, on 27 November, to discuss his plans. On 2 December he wrote again:
一周后,也就是11月27日,威尔克斯拜访国家物理实验室,详细商讨他的计划。12月2号,他再次写信:
I have been thinking over in more detail the subject we were discussing last Wednesday and what I have now in mind is that I should build up a group here containing about eight people of varying grades in addition to the mechanic and boy who are at present in the workshop.
上周三我们讨论的事,我已经认真考虑过了。我需要组建一个团队,除了我现有的人员和技工,还要再加8个人员。
This would involve an annual wage bill of something like 2,500 pounds. In addition there will be cost of materials and getting things made outside.
每年的工资总共需要大约2500英镑,另外还有材料费用,以及其它一些开销。
I am quite convinced that the construction of a pilot model of some sort is an essential step in designing ACE.
我非常肯定,对于ACE注来说,首先开发某种原型,这是至关重要的步骤。
I am attaching a note I have written on the design of the pilot model.
我已经做了一份原型设计,附在此信之后。
It does not follow that no part of ace may be ordered until the pilot model is finished but there will be many matters which it will be hard to settle, without experience at least of trying to get a pilot model working.
我希望你能尽快决定与我们签订合同,这将会非常有益。如果不先开发原型,我们在某些方面就无法获得经验,这会使很多问题无法解决。
But the attached note outlined the specification of a computer on the EDVAC model, and thus entirely different from the ACE.
附件中的原型设计,大体上是基于EDVAC模型,与ACE完全不同。
Not only did it employ a central accumulator, but it ran counter to the Turing philosophy of keeping the hardware as simple as possible, and putting the work into the programming.
它不仅采用了中心累加器,而且在很多方面都与图灵的设计哲学恰恰相反。
Instead, it made the programming as easy as possible, at the cost of requiring electronic circuits to do the work of recognising and executing the various arithmetical instructions.
图灵的原则是尽量简化硬件,把工作交给编程,而这份设计却尽量简化编程,引入了大量的硬件设备来识别和执行各种算术指令。