IBM 704
| 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
