The race to build the fastest superComputer in the world has been going on for some time.

First MegaFLOP computer - IBM 7030 1961
First GigaFLOP computer - Cray 2 1985
First TeraFLOP computer - ASCI Red 1997
First PetaFLOP computer - Roadrunner 2008
First ExaFLOP computer - Frontier 2022

The list is somewhat linear after the advent of ICs in the mid 70s, with a three order of magnitude increase every dozen ( or so ) years, and we should expect ZetaFLOP performance ( Floating Point Operations per Second ) by the mid 2030s.

The Chinese 'LineShine' System id the current #1, at over 2 ExaFLOPs, with the rest of the rankings in this article

LineShine Debuts at No. 1 as the TOP500 Enters a New Global Exascale Era | TOP500

Maybe @Sensei will be the only one interested in this article, but, as someone who still knows how to use a slide-rule ( after learning in the mid-0s, when a calculator cost $300 ), I am amazed at the progress.

4 hours ago, MigL said:

after learning in the mid-0s,

Sorry, mid-70s .

OK, I've still got my ARISTO-SCHOLAR LL which I bought when starting my studies at Technical College in 1962 - but disuse and old age mean I'd have to brush up on how to use it

I also had a circular pocket slide rule but that has long since disappeared.

I just started to learn to use a slide rule but pocket calculators were becoming a thing in the early 70's.

I was in the last class at the navy's nuclear power school to have to use a slide rule c1977. Of course, the entire fleet had been using calculators for well over a decade by then...

I was in GR 12, in 1975, when my brother ( actually my dad did ), then in Gr 13 ,bought a Texas Instruments SR-51 calculator for $300 Canadian. We 'shared' that scientific ( with red LEDs ) calculator as that was quite a sum when houses cost $25-30000, and a new car about $3000.
And only 5 years after Tom Hanks used a slide rule to calculate the trajectory for the Lunar Lander's return flight after the LOx tank explosion.

No, wait ... that was a movie.

4 hours ago, npts2020 said:

I was in the last class at the navy's nuclear power school to have to use a slide rule c1977. Of course, the entire fleet had been using calculators for well over a decade by then...

I wouldn't imagine a safety-critical discipline, like naval nuclear work, would change procedures quickly.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by StringJunky