Hex

Hex is an elaborate, Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg-esque, magic-powered computer housed at Unseen University (UU) in the city of Ankh-Morpork, in author Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Hex is a computer unlike any other the Disc has ever seen (which is not particularly hard since all other "computers" on the Disc consist of druidic stone circles). Hex runs and evolves under the watchful eyes of wizard Ponder Stibbons, who becomes the de-facto ... more

Hex is an elaborate, Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg-esque, magic-powered computer housed at Unseen University (UU) in the city of Ankh-Morpork, in author Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Hex is a computer unlike any other the Disc has ever seen (which is not particularly hard since all other "computers" on the Disc consist of druidic stone circles). Hex runs and evolves under the watchful eyes of wizard Ponder Stibbons, who becomes the de-facto IT manager at UU because he's the only one who understands what he's talking about. Hex has its origins in a device that briefly appeared in Soul Music, created by Ponder Stibbons and some student Wizards in the High Energy Magic building. In this form it was simply a complex network of glass tubes, containing ants. The wizards could then use punch cards to control which tubes the ants could crawl through, enabling it to perform simple mathematical functions. By the time of the next novel, Interesting Times, Hex had become a lot more complex,... less