Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262033985
- eISBN:
- 9780262334426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262033985.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter charts the rapid evolution of thinking about programming and computer architecture among members of the ENIAC team from 1944 onward, as what is usually called the “stored program ...
More
This chapter charts the rapid evolution of thinking about programming and computer architecture among members of the ENIAC team from 1944 onward, as what is usually called the “stored program concept” was formulated with John von Neumann and presented in the “First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC.” Use of archival sources makes this more specific and rigorous in documenting this process than any previous published account, presenting the new approach as an evolution of, and response to, the original ENIAC programming method. The ideas present in the “First Draft” are clearly explained and separated into three distinct clusters: the “EDVAC hardware paradigm,” the “von Neumann architecture paradigm,” and the “modern code paradigm.” The chapter finishes with an exploration of initial understanding and reception of these ideas, reconstructing the late-1940s consensus on what was important about the new approach and why.Less
This chapter charts the rapid evolution of thinking about programming and computer architecture among members of the ENIAC team from 1944 onward, as what is usually called the “stored program concept” was formulated with John von Neumann and presented in the “First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC.” Use of archival sources makes this more specific and rigorous in documenting this process than any previous published account, presenting the new approach as an evolution of, and response to, the original ENIAC programming method. The ideas present in the “First Draft” are clearly explained and separated into three distinct clusters: the “EDVAC hardware paradigm,” the “von Neumann architecture paradigm,” and the “modern code paradigm.” The chapter finishes with an exploration of initial understanding and reception of these ideas, reconstructing the late-1940s consensus on what was important about the new approach and why.
Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262033985
- eISBN:
- 9780262334426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262033985.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter explores the development of ENIAC’s overall architecture and control method. This was shaped, to a degree that has not previously been recognized, by an early and very detailed ...
More
This chapter explores the development of ENIAC’s overall architecture and control method. This was shaped, to a degree that has not previously been recognized, by an early and very detailed exploration led by Arthur W. Burks of how the machine could be “set up” to calculate shell trajectories, the task for which it was commissioned. Programming ENIAC was not, as has often been asserted, an “afterthought” to its design and construction. Discussion is focused in particular on the development of its master programmer unit, used to control sets of nested loops. Although it is widely believed that the ability to change the course of a computation based on results so far obtained (later be conceptualized as a conditional branch) was added to ENIAC late in its development, we show that this capability was planned for early on and that its eventual implementation as a capability of the master programmer reflected a distinct approach to the structuring of automatic computation shaped by the team’s work on the trajectory computation problem.Less
This chapter explores the development of ENIAC’s overall architecture and control method. This was shaped, to a degree that has not previously been recognized, by an early and very detailed exploration led by Arthur W. Burks of how the machine could be “set up” to calculate shell trajectories, the task for which it was commissioned. Programming ENIAC was not, as has often been asserted, an “afterthought” to its design and construction. Discussion is focused in particular on the development of its master programmer unit, used to control sets of nested loops. Although it is widely believed that the ability to change the course of a computation based on results so far obtained (later be conceptualized as a conditional branch) was added to ENIAC late in its development, we show that this capability was planned for early on and that its eventual implementation as a capability of the master programmer reflected a distinct approach to the structuring of automatic computation shaped by the team’s work on the trajectory computation problem.
