Analog Computing

Old-Time Rock & Roll

Bob Seger released the song "Old Time Rock & Roll" on his 1978 album Stranger in Town. Over the last year, several articles have highlighted a resurgence in analog computing — a mode of computing that fell out of favor around the same time.

From Wikipedia:

"An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (analog signals) to model the problem being solved."

Analog computing is gaining renewed interest due to its energy efficiency. It’s like vinyl records making a comeback — sometimes the old ways have a charm and practicality that modern methods can’t match. Companies like Mythic are even developing Analog Matrix Processors (AMPs) for AI applications!

Learn more about these developments from the Association for Computing Machinery journal Communications of the ACM: cacm.acm.org