The First Computers — History and Architectures

Raúl Rojas, Ulf Hashagen9780262181976, 9780585355351, 0262181975

This history of computing focuses not on chronology (what came first and who deserves credit for it) but on the actual architectures of the first machines that made electronic computing a practical reality. The book covers computers built in the United States, Germany, England, and Japan. It makes clear that similar concepts were often pursued simultaneously and that the early researchers explored many architectures beyond the von Neumann architecture that eventually became canonical. The contributors include not only historians but also engineers and computer pioneers.An introductory chapter describes the elements of computer architecture and explains why “being first” is even less interesting for computers than for other areas of technology. The essays contain a remarkable amount of new material, even on well-known machines, and several describe reconstructions of the historic machines. These investigations are of more than simply historical interest, for architectures designed to solve specific problems in the past may suggest new approaches to similar problems in today’s machines.

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Table of contents :
The First Computers—History and Architectures……Page 1
Preface……Page 5
A Preview of Things to Come: Some Remarks on the First Generation of Computers……Page 8
Part I – History, Reconstructions, Architectures……Page 21
The Structures of Computation……Page 22
Reconstructions, Historical and Otherwise: The Challenge of High-Tech Artifacts……Page 33
A Classification Scheme for Program Controlled Calculators……Page 48
Harware Components and Computer Design……Page 60
Part II – The American Scene……Page 75
Reconstructions of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer……Page 76
Howad Aiken and the Dawn of the Computer Age……Page 88
The ENIAC: History, Operation and Reconstruction in VLSI……Page 99
The Institute for Advanced Study Computer: A Case Study in the Application of Concepts from the History of Technology……Page 144
“Nothing New sin von Neumann”: A Historian Looks at Computer Architecture, 1945-1995……Page 155
Part III – The German Scene……Page 172
The DEHOMAG D11 Tabulator – A Milestone in the History of Data Processing……Page 173
The Architecture of Konrad Zuse’s Early Computing Machines……Page 185
Konrad Zuse’s Z4: Architecture, Programming, and Modifications at the ETH Zurich……Page 204
The Plankalkül of Konrad Zuse – Revisited……Page 215
The G1 and the Göttingen Family of Digital Computers……Page 229
Konrad Zuse and Industrial Manufacturing of Electronic Computers in Germany……Page 244
Herman Hoelzer – Inventor of the Electronic Analog Computer……Page 250
Part IV – The British Scene……Page 269
The Colossus of Bletchley Park – the German Cipher System……Page 270
The Manchester Mark 1 Computers……Page 281
Rebuilding the First Manchester Computer……Page 292
The Atlas Computer……Page 299
Past into Present: The EDSAC Simulator……Page 307
Part V – Early Japanese Computers……Page 322
The First Japanese Computers and Their Software Simulators……Page 323
The Parametron Computer PC-1 and Its Initial Input Routine……Page 337