Programming 1949 Style!
What was it like to program an early digital computer? [Woven Memories] wanted to know and wants you to know, too. [Maurice Wilkes] and his team wrote a book about …read more Continue reading Programming 1949 Style!
Category Archives: eniac
50-Year-Old Program Gets Speed Boost
At first glance, getting a computer program to run faster than the first electronic computers might seem trivial. After all, most of us carry enormously powerful processors in our pockets …read more Continue reading 50-Year-Old Program Gets Speed Boost
A Look Back at the USSR Computer Industry
According to [Asianometry], in 1986 the Soviet Union had about 10,000 computers. At the same time, the United States had 1.3 million! The USSR was hardly a backward country — …read more Continue reading A Look Back at the USSR Computer Industry
VCF East: The Desktop ENIAC
The ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, is essentially the Great Great Grandfather of whatever device you’re currently reading these words on. Developed during World War II for what would be about $7 million USD today, it was designed to calculate artillery firing tables. Once word got out about its capabilities, it was also put to work on such heady tasks as assisting with John von Neumann’s research into the hydrogen bomb. The success of ENIAC lead directly into the development of EDVAC, which adopted some of the now standard computing concepts such as binary arithmetic and the idea …read more
News in brief: Google Home gets smarter; Hackers target South Korean missiles; Harry Huskey dies
Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: Google Home gets smarter; Hackers target South Korean missiles; Harry Huskey dies
ENIAC: The Way We Were
When I first got interested in computers, it was all but impossible for an individual to own a computer outright. Even a “small” machine cost a fortune not to mention requiring specialized power, cooling, and maintenance. Then there started to be some rumblings of home computers (like the Mark 8 we recently saw a replica of) and the Altair 8800 burst on the scene. By today’s standards, these are hardly computers. Even an 8-bit Arduino can outperform these old machines.
As much disparity as there is between an Altair 8800 and a modern personal computer, looking even further back is …read more
