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One of the early computing machines built in the UK, the ACE is one that should not be forgotten or overlooked. This machine was the brainchild of Alan Turing and perhaps deserves to be called a Turing machine rather more than the theoretical machine more usually given this name. Is it interesting not only because it is the product of one of the greatest of computer scientists, it is also a very strange machine. We tend to think that there really is only one design for a computer. Even the earliest valve based serial computers are sufficiently like the standard Von Neumann design for us to be able to understand them and see how they fit into the overall development of hardware. The ACE is so different that it comes as something of a shock, a refreshing shock…