First General-Purpose Electronic Computer
@article{Burks1981FirstGE,
title={First General-Purpose Electronic Computer},
author={Arthur W. Burks and Alice R. Burks},
journal={Annals of the History of Computing},
year={1981},
volume={3},
pages={310-389}
}The conception, development, and design of the ENIAC are presented in the context of a causal history. Early influences, particularly the differential analyzer and the work of Atanasoff, are detailed. Architecture, electronic and logical designs, basic elements, main units, and problem setup are described, together with the historical contributions to each aspect. Finally, the place of the ENIAC in the history of computers is delineated, both quantitatively and qualitatively, through a…
Figures and Tables from this paper
50 Citations
Exploring the Architecture of an Early Machine: The Historical Relevance of the ENIAC Machine Architecture
- HistoryIEEE Ann. Hist. Comput.
- 1996
The technical section looks at the architecture of the accumulators and the master programmer unit in an attempt to illustrate both the advantages and the shortcomings of the design.
The virtual life of ENIAC: simulating the operation of the first electronic computer
- Computer ScienceIEEE Annals of the History of Computing
- 2006
With an interactive simulation of the ENIAC, users can wire complex configurations of the machine's modules to get the closest available approximation to the look and feel of programming this historical computer.
Advent of Electronic Digital Computing
- Computer ScienceAnnals of the History of Computing
- 1984
The author touches on the nebulous beginnings of his interest in computing, and how, when specific problems arose, the computers of the day were used and analyzed. The first choice he made was…
The First Electronic Computer
- History
- 1987
Until recently most Europeans interested in computing would have claimed that the first electronic computer was the Colossus, designed and constructed in Bletchley, England, by the mathematician Alan…
Konrad Zuse's Legacy: The Architecture of the Z1 and Z3
- Materials ScienceIEEE Ann. Hist. Comput.
- 1997
It is argued that both the Z1 and the Z3 possessed features akin to those of modern computers: the memory and processor were separate units, and the processor could handle floating-point numbers and compute the four basic arithmetical operations as well as the square root of a number.
The invention of the universal electronic computer--how the Electronic Computer Revolution began
- ArtFuture Gener. Comput. Syst.
- 2002
The origins of computer programming
- EconomicsIEEE Annals of the History of Computing
- 1994
This article discusses early automatic devices, Babbage's contributions set against a background of the technology of his day, the contributions of some of his direct successors, and the genesis of the stored-program idea.
On the Role of Mathematics and Mathematical Knowledge in the Invention of Vannevar Bush's Early Analog Computers
- BusinessIEEE Ann. Hist. Comput.
- 1996
Bush's perception of promoting engineering by easing the applied mathematics in this field as it appeared in his contribution to the development of operational circuit analysis as an appropriate engineering mathematics as well as in creating analog machinery that was inspired by the formulation of transmission line problems in terms of that very operational methods after Oliver Heaviside.
The ENIAC at 70
- Education
- 2017
D uring World War II—before smart bombs— the U.S. military needed firing tables that would enable artillery operators to aim their guns accurately, taking into account factors such as the location of…
The UNIVAC SHORT CODE
- LinguisticsAnnals of the History of Computing
- 1988
The UNIVAC SHORT CODE, the first example of a high level programming language actually intended to be used with an electronic computer was proposed by John W. Mauchly in July 1949. SHORT CODE was…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 42 REFERENCES
Electronic Computing Circuits of the ENIAC
- Computer Science
- 1947
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first electronic computing machine to be built, is a very large device compounded out of a few basic types of computing circuits.
The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann
- Art
- 1972
From the Publisher:
In 1942, Lt. Herman H. Goldstine, a former mathematics professor, was stationed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he assisted…
Between Zuse and Rutishauser—The Early Development of Digital Computing in Central Europe
- Computer Science
- 1980
Computing Machine for the Solution of large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations
- Computer Science
- 1982
It is the main purpose of this paper to present a description and exposition of a computing machine which has been designed principally for the solution of large systems of linear algebraic…
History of Computing in the Twentieth Century
- History
- 1980
This book is both the reuslt of that conference and the subsequent collection of supplementary articles by the editors, and attempts to fill in some of the gaps that remained and that either could not be filled by the attendees or were left as open questions for lack of time.
Calculating Instruments and Machines
- Business
- 1951
This chapter discusses Charles Babbage and the analytical engine, high-speed automatic digital machines and numerical analysis, and the first stage of development.