Difference between revisions of "History of Computers - ENIAC"
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| − | In 1946, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), developed by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, was completed. | + | In 1946, after almost two and half years of work and 500,000 tax dollars worth of expenditure, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), developed by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, was completed. It took up more than 1800 square feet of space and consumed more than 160 kilowatts of power.<ref name = "a">http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/Eniac.htm</ref> |
==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
http://blogs.zdnet.com/images/eniac.jpg | http://blogs.zdnet.com/images/eniac.jpg | ||
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http://hawaii.ls.fi.upm.es/historia/grandes%20logros/Eniac/ENIAC.gif | http://hawaii.ls.fi.upm.es/historia/grandes%20logros/Eniac/ENIAC.gif | ||
| − | ENIAC was the first general purpose electronic computer and had a wide practical use. ENIAC was originally designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II, who funded the entire project. As a general purpose, programmable computer, ENIAC grabbed the attention of hydrogen bomb maker, John von Neumann. Instead of being used for calculating ballistics tables, ENIAC was first used for calculations for the hydrogen bomb. However, ENIAC was a massive computer, largely due to its use of over 17,000 [[History of Computers - Vacuum Tubes|Vacuum Tubes]]. ENIAC would constantly break down, so hundreds of thousands of parts had to be examined because of how many parts the computer had. | + | ENIAC was the first general purpose electronic computer and had a wide practical use. ENIAC was originally designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II, who funded the entire project. As a general purpose, programmable computer, ENIAC grabbed the attention of hydrogen bomb maker, John von Neumann. Instead of being used for calculating ballistics tables, ENIAC was first used for calculations for the hydrogen bomb, as well as weather prediction, cosmic-ray, thermal ignition, random-number, and wind-tunnel design studies.<ref name = "a"/> |
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| + | The ENIAC was one thousand times faster than any other calculating machine to date; for instance, in one second, it could perform 5,000 additions. <ref name = "a"> | ||
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| + | However, ENIAC was a massive computer, largely due to its use of over 17,000 [[History of Computers - Vacuum Tubes|Vacuum Tubes]]. ENIAC would constantly break down, so hundreds of thousands of parts had to be examined because of how many parts the computer had. Although the vacuum tubes were considerably faster than the switches and relays that were previously used, they would produce massive amounts of heat.<ref name = "a"/> It was only later where such common problems could be solved through the [[History of Computers - Transistors|transistor]]. | ||
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| + | Another downside of the ENIAC was that it took weeks to reprogram, and it frequently needed maintenance. However, research on the ENIAC eventually led to the improvement of vacuum tubes. <ref name = "a"> | ||
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http://blogs.atlassian.com/developer/eniac3.jpg | http://blogs.atlassian.com/developer/eniac3.jpg | ||
Revision as of 10:34, 8 September 2013
In 1946, after almost two and half years of work and 500,000 tax dollars worth of expenditure, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), developed by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, was completed. It took up more than 1800 square feet of space and consumed more than 160 kilowatts of power.[1]
Overview
ENIAC was the first general purpose electronic computer and had a wide practical use. ENIAC was originally designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II, who funded the entire project. As a general purpose, programmable computer, ENIAC grabbed the attention of hydrogen bomb maker, John von Neumann. Instead of being used for calculating ballistics tables, ENIAC was first used for calculations for the hydrogen bomb, as well as weather prediction, cosmic-ray, thermal ignition, random-number, and wind-tunnel design studies.[1]
The ENIAC was one thousand times faster than any other calculating machine to date; for instance, in one second, it could perform 5,000 additions. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found
