Difference between revisions of "IBM 704"

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The major advances over its predecessor, the [[IBM 701]], included [[core memory]], instead of the [[Williams tube]] electrostatic cathode ray tubes previously used for [[main memory]] in the 701; and support for [[floating point]] in hardware (supposedly the first mass-produced machine to do so).
 
The major advances over its predecessor, the [[IBM 701]], included [[core memory]], instead of the [[Williams tube]] electrostatic cathode ray tubes previously used for [[main memory]] in the 701; and support for [[floating point]] in hardware (supposedly the first mass-produced machine to do so).
  
The [[instruction set]] of the 704 was not compatible with the 701; the later [[IBM 709]], [[IBM 7090]], and [[IBM 7094]] did use an upwardly-compatible instruction set, so the 704 did found a major family.
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The instruction set of the 704 was not compatible with the 701; the later [[IBM 709]], [[IBM 7090]], and [[IBM 7094]] did use an upwardly-compatible instruction set, so the 704 founded a major family.
  
 
[[FORTRAN]] was produced for, and first implemented on, this computer. [[LISP]] was also first done on the 704.
 
[[FORTRAN]] was produced for, and first implemented on, this computer. [[LISP]] was also first done on the 704.

Revision as of 15:00, 18 April 2018


IBM 704
Manufacturer: International Business Machines
Year Announced: May, 1954
Year Discontinued: April, 1960
Form Factor: mainframe
Word Size: 36 bits
Logic Type: vacuum tubes
Clock Speed: 24 μsec (basic add instruction)

240 μsec (basic multiply instruction)

Memory Speed: 12 μsec
Predecessor(s): IBM 701
Successor(s): IBM 709


The IBM 704 was IBM's first commercially successful vacuum tube scientific mainframe (built at a time when computers for scientific and business computing used separate instruction sets). It was announced in May, 1954; 136 were sold.

The major advances over its predecessor, the IBM 701, included core memory, instead of the Williams tube electrostatic cathode ray tubes previously used for main memory in the 701; and support for floating point in hardware (supposedly the first mass-produced machine to do so).

The instruction set of the 704 was not compatible with the 701; the later IBM 709, IBM 7090, and IBM 7094 did use an upwardly-compatible instruction set, so the 704 founded a major family.

FORTRAN was produced for, and first implemented on, this computer. LISP was also first done on the 704.

Further reading

  • Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, IBM's Early Computers, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986

External links