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 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
