20 Oct
1997
20 Oct
'97
1:20 a.m.
Just thought people here might be interested...
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 00:19:31 GMT
From: chris(a)envex.demon.co.uk (Chris.P.Burton)
Reply-To: chris(a)envex.demon.co.uk
To: history-of-computing-uk(a)mailbase.ac.uk
Subject: Manchester Baby Programming Competition
Program the world's first computer!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world's first computer program was run on June 21st 1948 on
the "baby" Mark1 at Manchester. As part of the celebrations to mark
the 50th anniversary of this event next year, we are holding a
competition to program the machine. The winner will have the
opportunity to run their program on the replica of the original
machine. For details of your chance to program the World's First
Stored Program Computer, see
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/prog98/
Information on the 1998 celebration in general is at
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/mark1/
Please forward this information to anybody you know who might be
interested - i.e. anybody you know with an interest in computing!
- --
Chris P Burton - A member of the Computer Conservation Society
------- End of Forwarded Message
20 Oct
20 Oct
7:05 a.m.
In <199710201020.LAA12294(a)mailgate.motiv.co.uk>uk>, on 10/20/97
at 11:20 AM, kevan(a)heydon.org said:
Program the world's first computer!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The world's first computer program was run on June 21st 1948 on the
"baby" Mark1 at Manchester. As part of the celebrations to mark the 50th
....
Could some of the list members with more historical knowledge comment
on this? I thought the first "electronic digital computer" was the ABC -
Atanasoff Berry Computer from 1939. This was verified in some high
powered patent cases in '73 and '74, that concluded Sperry-Univac could
not claim patents for the ideas from thier Univac machine ("43 or '44?).
Honneywell, CDC, IBM, and others did not want to pay royalties to Sperry.
The Sperry machine is the first "commercial" machine that was offered for
sale.
A replica of the ABC has been built, and is currently on tour of
midwest Universities.
Where does the Manchester computer fit in? In seems 1948 was several
years after the ABC and Univac efforts, yet they're referring to the
"world's first computer program".
Harlan
------------------------------------------------------
Harlan Warden, near Van Cleve Iowa
hdwarden(a)netins.net
------------------------------------------------------
7:47 a.m.
Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, hdwarden(a)netins.net
said:
In <199710201020.LAA12294(a)mailgate.motiv.co.uk>uk>,
on 10/20/97
at 11:20 AM, kevan(a)heydon.org said:
> Program the world's first computer!
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>The world's first computer program was run on June 21st 1948 on the
>"baby" Mark1 at Manchester. As part of the celebrations to mark the 50th
>....
World's first computer?!?!? Methinks not on this respect.
Could some of the list members with more historical
knowledge comment
on this? I thought the first "electronic digital computer" was the ABC -
Atanasoff Berry Computer from 1939. This was verified in some high
powered patent cases in '73 and '74, that concluded Sperry-Univac could
not claim patents for the ideas from thier Univac machine ("43 or '44?).
Honneywell, CDC, IBM, and others did not want to pay royalties to Sperry.
The Sperry machine is the first "commercial" machine that was offered for
sale.
A replica of the ABC has been built, and is currently on tour of
midwest Universities.
Where does the Manchester computer fit in? In seems 1948 was several
years after the ABC and Univac efforts, yet they're referring to the
"world's first computer program".
Exactly, on part of the ABC.
However, which was the first computer that enlisted the "stored program
concept" of Von Neumann? Are they referring to an program stored in main
memory instead of external switches? That could be...
Could anyone else expound on this?
Just MHO,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | Why does Hershey's put nutritional
Programmer, NorthernWay | information on their candy bar wrappers
zmerch(a)northernway.net | when there's no nutritional value within?
7:07 p.m.
New subject: Items For Sale
In the interest of basement space and focus, I'm selling a couple items
in the collection (which you can see at http://www.retrocomputing.com)
which are not of interest to me:
TRS-80 Model III w/ two internal drives and one external drive, some
documentation and a bunch of software including boot diskettes
Epson QX-10 with documentation and software, does not include printer
which came with the system
For the above two systems I'd like to get a few bucks plus shipping, best
offer by Friday accepted.
I also have a Kaypro II, condition unknown with no software, free to a
good home if you pay shipping charges.
All offers considered. Payment is acceptable in the form of a personal
check to:
Anthony Clifton
407 East Porter Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50315
As much as I hate to part with stuff, I want to focus on pre-1982
computers with a few exceptions based on personal nostalgia. I'd like to
get a few bucks for the above machines but I'll also consider trades.
9767
days inactive
9767
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
hdwarden＠netins.net -
kevan＠heydon.org -
wirehead＠retrocomputing.com -
zmerch＠northernway.net