Did you know the ENIAC was NOT the first digital computer? The ABC was.

[Martin]

I wonder how many of you know about this.



<< The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the world's first electronic digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42. It incorporated several major innovations in computing including the use of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, parallel processing, and separation of memory and computing functions. >>


Source



Link to biography

 

[Kadarin]

I know there was also the Colossus project in Great Britain during WWII, designed to break German codes.

link

 

[Schlocemus]

Did you know that I have a punch card for ENIAC?

 

[Cyberian]

Quite interesting.
Makes you wonder what would have happened if Atanasoff had had a different childhood.

 

[ShadowDJ]

hmmm... and did you know the term "bug" came around when a moth was trapped in an old (read= vacuum tube) scientific PC and wreaked havoc? I cant remember which it was, might have been the ENIAC...

 

[Schlocemus]

<< hmmm... and did you know the term "bug" came around when a moth was trapped in an old (read= vacuum tube) scientific PC and wreaked havoc? I cant remember which it was, might have been the ENIAC... >>



Oh...I thought it was Mark IV

Edit: It was Mark II...

In 1945, Grace Murray Hopper was working on the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator (a primitive computer).

On the 9th of September, 1945, when the machine was experiencing problems, an investigation showed that there was a moth trapped between the points of Relay #70, in Panel F.

The operators removed the moth and affixed it to the log. (See the picture above.) The entry reads: "First actual case of bug being found."

http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/tek1/first_computer_bug.htm

 

[Martin]

Actually, the ABC was the first digital computer. The mark II, the babbage machines, they were all mechanical, or electro-mechanical.


The Atanasoff was also the first one that thought up of all major components of today's computers. Think about it, he was the first one to use the binary system, to have memory and CPU separate. Our computers are still founded on these principles....

 

[ElFenix]

mechanical computers can be digital...