Ask HN: 算盘是数字设备吗？
1 分•作者: marcodiego•8 个月前
我通常将数字设备定义为“内部值以离散形式表示的设备”，而模拟设备则是“内部值以连续形式表示的设备”。
根据这些定义，我很少关注设备是电子的、机械的、生物的（用手指计数）甚至是虚构的。同样，根据这些定义，算盘显然是一个数字设备，因为它的内部值以离散形式表示。不幸的是，有一些相互矛盾的（相当常见或可信的）来源与我的观点不同。
通常，这些来源基于算盘不是电子设备，或者其他关于其操作的考虑，但没有考虑到内部值的表示。
因此，我想向 HN 社区提问关于这个问题的定义、来源和（在较小程度上）观点。算盘是数字设备吗？
备注 1：由于算盘每根柱子有 5 颗珠子（特别是模仿使用手的手指的计数方法）是很常见的，因此算盘可能是（最）经典的数字设备例子：它字面意义上模仿了 digitos（拉丁语中的手指）。
备注 2：此外，我不想考虑游戏玩家中常见的观点，他们将 CD 称为模拟设备，而它显然是数字设备，或者将带有摇杆的控制器称为模拟设备，因为它们非常接近地模拟连续状态。模拟控制器的一个好例子是 Atari 控制器，它有一个可变电容器，并且通过测量电容来推断其位置。虽然测量是数字的，但控制器确实是模拟的。现代的控制器不是模拟的，它们是完全数字的。
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I usually define a digital device as "a device where internal values are represented in a discrete form" while an analog device is "a device where internal values are represented in a continuous form".<p>By these definitions I'm rarely concerned if the device is electronic, mechanical, biological (counting with fingers) or even imaginary. Also, by these same definitions, an abacus is clearly a digital device since internally, its values a represented in a discrete form. Unfortunately, there are conflicting (reasonably common or trustworthy) sources that disagree with me.<p>Usually, such sources are based of the fact that the abacus is not electronic or other considerations regarding its operation but not taking internal representation of values into account.<p>So, I'd like to question the HN crowd definitions, sources and (to a much lesser extent) opinions about this question. Is the abacus a digital device?<p>Remark 1: Since it is very common for an abacus to have 5 beads per pole (specially mimicking a counting method using the fingers of a hand), the abacus is probably (the most) classical example of a digital device: it literally mimics digitos (fingers in latin).<p>Remark 2: Also, I don't want to consider the common opinion among gamers that call a CD as an analog device when it is clearly digital, or controller with joysticks as analog because the mimic very close continuous states. A good example among analog controllers is the Atari one that had a variable capacitor and the capacitance was measured to infer its position. Although the measurement is digital, the controller, yes, was analog. Modern ones are not analog, they're fully digital.