Atanasoff-Berry Computer - Revision history

Jnc: Link patent trial

2025-06-05T10:17:50Z

Link patent trial

Jnc: /* External links */ +Computing Machine for the Solution of Large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations

2025-06-03T12:39:16Z

‎External links: +Computing Machine for the Solution of Large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations

Jnc: /* Further reading */ link AHC

2024-12-06T01:39:27Z

‎Further reading: link AHC

Jnc: /* External links */ Link online 'Computing Before Computers'

2024-09-13T13:08:31Z

‎External links: Link online 'Computing Before Computers'

Jnc: /* External links */ Link online 'Reckoners'

2024-09-13T12:48:55Z

‎External links: Link online 'Reckoners'

Jnc: Clarify

2024-09-03T10:42:14Z

Clarify

Jnc: Wrong word

2024-09-01T17:02:16Z

Wrong word

Jnc: Emphasize that it was a digital device

2024-09-01T08:45:45Z

Emphasize that it was a digital device

Jnc: Not many adjectives are needed for the ABC!

2024-08-31T21:50:10Z

Not many adjectives are needed for the ABC!

Jnc: Built by Atanasoff and Berry

2024-08-11T14:01:49Z

Built by Atanasoff and Berry

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 It was designed and built by [[John Vincent Atanasoff]], with the assistance of his student [[Clifford Berry]] (hence the name). Construction of a working prototype (to explore and demonstrate the basic approach) began in the fall quarter of 1939; that was working by December. Soon thereafter, work on the full machine began.
-It is notable principally as ''a'' direct inspiration for the later [[ENIAC]], the first-ever ''general-purpose'' electronic computing device (although the ENIAC was [[decimal]] internally, not binary, and [[serial]], not parallel). [[John Mauchly]], one of the two people most responsible for the ENIAC, spent several days studying the ABC in detail, in person, in June, 1941, about a year before he started on the ENIAC (in about August, 1942). This fact later led to the [[Atanasoff-Mauchly controversy]], and the overturning of the over-broad patent on the ENIAC, in a celebrated trial in 1973.
+It is notable principally as ''a'' direct inspiration for the later [[ENIAC]], the first-ever ''general-purpose'' electronic computing device (although the ENIAC was [[decimal]] internally, not binary, and [[serial]], not parallel). [[John Mauchly]], one of the two people most responsible for the ENIAC, spent several days studying the ABC in detail, in person, in June, 1941, about a year before he started on the ENIAC (in about August, 1942). This fact later led to the [[Atanasoff-Mauchly controversy]], and the overturning of the over-broad patent on the ENIAC, in a [[Sperry Rand|celebrated trial]] in 1973.
 It is also significant for being the first digital electronic computing device to use [[capacitor]]-based [[memory]] using [[memory refresh|refresh]] - an approach to memory now ubiquitous in the [[dynamic RAM]] of all modern computers. This capacitor-based system was effectively the ABC's [[main memory]].

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ==External links==
-* [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/img/ABC%20%20manual.pdf manual for the ABC]
+* John V. Atanasoff, [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/img/Computing%20machine.pdf ''Computing Machine for the Solution of Large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations'']
 * [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/operation.php Atanasoff Berry Computer - Operation/Purpose]
 ** [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/team.php ABC Reconstruction, 1994-1997]

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 * John V. Atanasoff, ''Computing Machine for the Solution of large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations'', re-printed in Brian Randell (editor), ''The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers'', Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1973, 1982 (3rd edition)
-* John V. Atanasoff, ''Advent of Electronic Digital Computing'', Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 6, Number 3, July 1984
+* John V. Atanasoff, ''Advent of Electronic Digital Computing'', [[Annals of the History of Computing]], Vol. 6, No. 3, July 1984
 * R. K. Richard, ''Electronic Digital Systems'', John Wiley, New York, 1966 - the work which initially brought the ABC to the world's attention
 * Alice Rowe Burks, Arthur W. Burks, ''The First Electronic Computer: The Atanasoff Story'', University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1988

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 ** [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/ABC_replica_AtanasoffToday.pdf Documenting the ABC Replica Project and its Contributors]
 * [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners-ch-5.html ''Chapter 5: Faster, Faster: The ENIAC''], in Paul E. Ceruzzi, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners.html ''Reckoners: The Prehistory of The Digital Computer, From Relays to the Stored Program Concept, 1935-1945''], Greenwood, Westport, 1983
-* Paul E. Ceruzzi, [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/CBC-Ch-07.pdf ''Chapter Seven: Electronic Calculators''], in William Aspray (editor), ''Computing Before Computers'', Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1990
+* Paul E. Ceruzzi, [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/CBC-Ch-07.pdf ''Chapter Seven: Electronic Calculators''], in William Aspray (editor), [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/CBC.html ''Computing Before Computers''], Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1990
 * [http://www.johngustafson.net/pubs/pub57/ABCPaper.htm Reconstruction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer]
 * [https://augustana.net/users/arwalters/jva/html/story3.htm Construction of the first electronic digital computer]

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ** [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/team.php ABC Reconstruction, 1994-1997]
 ** [https://jva.cs.iastate.edu/ABC_replica_AtanasoffToday.pdf Documenting the ABC Replica Project and its Contributors]
-* [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners-ch-5.html ''Chapter 5: Faster, Faster: The ENIAC''], in Paul E. Ceruzzi, ''Reckoners: The Prehistory of The Digital Computer, From Relays to the Stored Program Concept, 1935-1945'', Greenwood, Westport, 1983
+* [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners-ch-5.html ''Chapter 5: Faster, Faster: The ENIAC''], in Paul E. Ceruzzi, [https://www.ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners.html ''Reckoners: The Prehistory of The Digital Computer, From Relays to the Stored Program Concept, 1935-1945''], Greenwood, Westport, 1983
 * Paul E. Ceruzzi, [https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/CBC-Ch-07.pdf ''Chapter Seven: Electronic Calculators''], in William Aspray (editor), ''Computing Before Computers'', Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1990
 * [http://www.johngustafson.net/pubs/pub57/ABCPaper.htm Reconstruction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 The '''Atanasoff-Berry Computer''' (as it is now known; or the '''ABC''' for short) was the first-ever [[electronic]] [[computing device]]. (As Michael Williams observed, "If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim [a particular machine to be the 'first']"; not many adjectives are needed for this claim for the ABC!) It was not general-purpose, though; it was intended only to solve large systems of simultaneous, linear equations
-Like [[Charles Babbage]]'s Engines, it was [[digital]] (also unlike the [[differential analyzer]]s, which were the principal computing devices produced and used before the ABC). Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total
+Like [[Charles Babbage]]'s Engines, it was [[digital]] (unlike the [[differential analyzer]]s, which were the principal computing devices produced and used before the ABC). Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total
 It was designed and built by [[John Vincent Atanasoff]], with the assistance of his student [[Clifford Berry]] (hence the name). Construction of a working prototype (to explore and demonstrate the basic approach) began in the fall quarter of 1939; that was working by December. Soon thereafter, work on the full machine began.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:02, 1 September 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	The '''Atanasoff-Berry Computer''' (as it is now known; or the '''ABC''' for short) was the first-ever [[electronic]] [[computing device]]. (As Michael Williams observed, "If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim [a particular machine to be the 'first']"; not many adjectives are needed for this claim for the ABC!) It was not general-purpose, though; it was intended only to solve large systems of ~~parallel~~, linear equations	+	The '''Atanasoff-Berry Computer''' (as it is now known; or the '''ABC''' for short) was the first-ever [[electronic]] [[computing device]]. (As Michael Williams observed, "If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim [a particular machine to be the 'first']"; not many adjectives are needed for this claim for the ABC!) It was not general-purpose, though; it was intended only to solve large systems of simultaneous, linear equations

	Like [[Charles Babbage]]'s Engines, it was [[digital]] (also unlike the [[differential analyzer]]s, which were the principal computing devices produced and used before the ABC). Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total		Like [[Charles Babbage]]'s Engines, it was [[digital]] (also unlike the [[differential analyzer]]s, which were the principal computing devices produced and used before the ABC). Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The '''Atanasoff-Berry Computer''' (as it is now known; or the '''ABC''' for short) was the first-ever [[electronic]] [[computing device]]. (As Michael Williams observed, "If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim [a particular machine to be the 'first']"; not many adjectives are needed for the ABC!) Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] [[digital]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total
+The '''Atanasoff-Berry Computer''' (as it is now known; or the '''ABC''' for short) was the first-ever [[electronic]] [[computing device]]. (As Michael Williams observed, "If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim [a particular machine to be the 'first']"; not many adjectives are needed for this claim for the ABC!) It was not general-purpose, though; it was intended only to solve large systems of parallel, linear equations
-It was designed and built by [[John Vincent Atanasoff]], with the assistance of [[Clifford Berry]] (hence the name). Construction of a working prototype (to explore and demonstrate the basic approach) began in the fall quarter of 1939; it was working by December. Soon thereafter, work on the full machine, designed to solve large systems of linear equations, began.
+Like [[Charles Babbage]]'s Engines, it was [[digital]] (also unlike the [[differential analyzer]]s, which were the principal computing devices produced and used before the ABC). Internally, it was a [[parallel]] [[binary]] device; in physical instantiation, it was built out of [[vacuum tube]]s, about 300 tubes in total
-It is notable principally as ''a'' direct inspiration for the later [[ENIAC]], the first-ever ''general-purpose'' electronic computing device (although the ENIAC was [[decimal]] internally, not binary). [[John Mauchly]], one of the two people most responsible for the ENIAC, spent several days studying the ABC in detail, in person, in June, 1941, about a year before he started on the ENIAC (in about August, 1942). This fact later led to the overturning of the over-broad patent on the ENIAC, in a celebrated trial in 1973.
+It was designed and built by [[John Vincent Atanasoff]], with the assistance of his student [[Clifford Berry]] (hence the name). Construction of a working prototype (to explore and demonstrate the basic approach) began in the fall quarter of 1939; that was working by December. Soon thereafter, work on the full machine began.
-It is also significant for being the first digital electronic computing device to use [[capacitor]]-based [[memory]] using [[memory refresh|refresh]] - an approach to memory now ubiquitous in the [[Dynamic RAM]] of all modern computers. This capacitor-based system was effectively the ABC's [[main memory]].
+It is notable principally as ''a'' direct inspiration for the later [[ENIAC]], the first-ever ''general-purpose'' electronic computing device (although the ENIAC was [[decimal]] internally, not binary, and [[serial]], not parallel). [[John Mauchly]], one of the two people most responsible for the ENIAC, spent several days studying the ABC in detail, in person, in June, 1941, about a year before he started on the ENIAC (in about August, 1942). This fact later led to the [[Atanasoff-Mauchly controversy]], and the overturning of the over-broad patent on the ENIAC, in a celebrated trial in 1973.
-Although it was built, did operate, and solved some small problems, it never operated at full scale, for several reasons: principally because its [[secondary storage]] system (which used [[punched card]]s, with holes made with electric arcs), used for holding intermediate results, was not yet reliable when WWII drew its creators away from Iowa State College, where it was built.
+It is also significant for being the first digital electronic computing device to use [[capacitor]]-based [[memory]] using [[memory refresh|refresh]] - an approach to memory now ubiquitous in the [[dynamic RAM]] of all modern computers. This capacitor-based system was effectively the ABC's [[main memory]].
 {{semi-stub}}