23 Jan
2011
23 Jan
'11
9:11 p.m.
Dismissing the points by equating them with mechanical
adding machines
is flippant. No, mechanical adding machines do not have the properties
mentioned, however mechanical machines with built-in and
multiplication and division were complex machines.
There are many complex calculating machines that aren't computers.
dismissing the ABC on the above is again flippant.
Multiplication and
division have been implemented as small programs throughout the
history of computers, be it in a hardware state machine, microcode, or
(frequently) as instruction-level programs as many machines do not
provide those ops as instructions. Various 'real computers' have
gotten by with little or nothing more than sign- and/or zero-detection
for data-sensitivity/conditional operation, just as the ABC provides.
That m/d is one point among many; nobody's saying it was a useless
technique.
the Manchester Baby (first stored program machine)
Not necessarily; see my email citing the 1947 EDVAC memo.
I don't like to overstate what the ABC did, which
is why I prepared
that web article about it, to try to put down concisely what it did
technically. I think some have overstated what it did it on occasion,
but it is also about time the ENIAC supporters acknowledged what the
ABC did do, rather than just trying to dismiss it. I understand there
are the familial/emotional issues of having Mauchly's name dragged
through the mud and I can sympathise on that. And I understand there
may still be differing opinions on how much influence Mauchly obtained
from Atanasoff. But the technical assessments need to be separated
from those matters.
You're right. I am rewriting parts of the new web site to reflect this.
ENIAC .... took hours to change a program
That was certainly one of the biggest knocks against it. A fast
computer has limited utility if setting up the program was tedious.
wasn't a universal machine
Please elaborate.
was an architectural dead-end
That's not true, but I think you and I each made our points already
about ABC and ENIAC.
was just an overblown calculator, it simply wasn't
a 'computer'
:-)
stored program machines, the Manchester Baby was the
first one to run
See above, re: Baby.
EDSAC was the first one to provide real service.
Oy! ENIAC was providing "real service", i.e. running important
applications for academia, government, and the Army, by 1945 (and with a
stored program by 1948). EDSAC wasn't even a pipe dream in 1945, and
didn't go into operation until 1949.
Truce?