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Index


Abacus, 3, 98
Aberdeen, Md., 95, 121, 127-128, 138.
See also Ballistic Research Lab
Accumulators, 53, 110-112; on ENIAC,
113-114
ACE (Automatic Computing Engine),
135, 137
Ackermann, W., 24
Ada Augusta, Countess of Lovelace,
56-57, 65, 145-146
Adding machines, 3, 5, 111
Addition, decimal, 52-53. See also
Arithmetic, decimal
Aerodynamics Research Institute (DVL),
28-29
Aiken, Howard H., xi, 6, 43, 68; and Babbage, 56-57, 62, 64-65; construction of ASCC, 49; education, 44; first thoughts on computing, 45; postwar activities, 68-70
ALGOL (programming language), 23
Analog computing, 73, 107-108
Analytical Engine. See Babbage,
Charles
APL (programming language), 70
Apollonius, 77
Architecture, computer, 14-15, 96,
139-141
Arithmetic, 4; binary, 17, 21, 47, 87, 109-110; complex, 34, 76-81, 89; decimal, 16, 47, 53, 117, 133-134; floating vs. fixed point, 31, 35, 47; serial vs. parallel, 118-119, 138-139

ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator), xi, 6, 43, 46, 48, 52; construction, 49; cost, 51; description of, 52-58; programming, 56-61; and punched card machines, 51; specifications, 58; use, 65-68
Atanasoff, John V., 105-106, 109-110, 122
AT&T, 74, 92, 100
Atomic bomb, 66, 126-127, 138

Babbage, Charles, 17, 46-48, 56, 62, 64; and Analytical Engine, 14-15, 124-125, 145; and Difference Engine, 62-63, 67
Ballistic Research Lab, 108. See also Aberdeen, Md.
Bardeen, John, 92
BASIC (programming language), 147
Bell, Alexander Graham, 73-74
Bell Laboratories, xi, 6, 73-75, 78, 85, 93, 123
Bell Labs Model I. See Complex Number Computer
Bell Labs Models II-VI, 89, 94-96; specifications of II-V, 95
Bell Telephone Company. See AT&T
Berkeley, Edmund, 73
Berlin, 14, 16, 18-19, 37-38; Technical College of Berlin-Charlottenberg, 1011, 15; University of Berlin, 18
Bessel functions, 66-67
Binary arithmetic. See Arithmetic, binary
Binary-coded decimal (BCD), 81-84, 87,
101. See also Arithmetic, binary
Bi-quinary notation, 97-98
Bloch, Richard, 56
Brainerd, John G., 108, 110
Brattain, Walter, 99
Brooks, Fred, 70
Brown, T. H., 48
Bryce, James, 49
Bush, Vannevar, 48, 93, 107
Buttmann, W., 18

Calculators: and computers, 18, 47, 51, 55, 78, 132-133, 150; mechanical, 3, 5, 16, 52-53, 75, 108; pocket programmable, 132, 140 Cambridge, England, 135 Cambridge, Mass. See Harvard University; MIT Clippinger, R. H., 121 Colossus, 104-105, 112113, 116, 131-132, 135, 137 Compiler programs, 144 Complements, 53, 55, 83-84, 123 Complex Number Computer (Bell Labs Model 1), 76, 8185, 89-91, 118, 120; public demonstration, 92-93; specifications, 86 Computer: analog, 107-108; definition, xi-xii, 4, 5, 7, 92, 128, 132, 135, 145; digital, 53, 108-109; electromechanical, 52; electronic, 105, 109, 112, 145-146; human, xi, 38, 136, 150; prehistory, xi, 3. See also Architecture, computer Connie, L. J., 68 Conant, James B., 51 Conditional branch capability, 55, 65, 120, 134, 137, 144 Control, devices for, 4, 18, 46-47, 81, 96. See also Plugboards Copernicus, N., 151 Counters, 54, 111

Dartmouth College, 92-93 de Beauclair, W., 34, 37 de Forest, Lee, 74 Descartes, Rene, 147

Determinants, 35-36, 37

Differences, method of finite, 62-64

Differential Analyzer, 48, 107-108, 127 Differential equations, 44, 66, 106-108, 119, 128; numerical solution of, 44,

107,126-128

Digital vs. analog computation, 53, 73, 108

Dreyer, H. J., 37
Durfee, Benjamin, 49
DVL (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fur

Luftfahrtforschung). See Aerodynamics Research Institute


Eccles-Jordan flip-flop. See Flip-flop

Eckert, J. Presper, 106, 108, 109, 111, 138

Eckert, Wallace, 48, 51
EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable

Computer), 118-119, 120, 124, 126, 137-138; design of, 138-139

ENIAC (Electronic Numeric Integrator and Computer), xii, 7, 28, 104-106, 108, 131-133, 138, 150-151;

construction, 110; and EDVAC, 138; patent, 109; programming, 115, 116, 117-120, 137; proposal for, 108, 112 specifications, 122-123; use, 126-128

Errors, computer: ASCC, 61-62, 65, 67 Bell Labs Computers, 96-98; ENIAC, 125


Fast, August, 37

Firing tables, 66, 106-107, 128. See also
Tables, mathematical
Flip-flop, 111-112
Flutter problem, 29, 37
Frankel, S., 126
Franklin, Benjamin, 104
Fry, T. C., 92

Gate, electronic, 116-117

Gauss, Karl F., 77
General Electric Co., 77, 78
German Army Command (OKH), 28
Gillon, Paul, 108
Goldstine, Adele, 127
Goldstine, Herman H., 127, 132
Good, I. J., 131
Gottingen, 17, 39, 77, 135
Grohmann, A., 18, 21

Hamilton, Frank, 49
Hamming, Richard, 98
Handbook of Mathematical Functions
(U.S. National Bureau of Standards),
68
Hartree, D. R., 127-128, 131
Harvard Mark I. See ASCC
Harvard University, 43, 48-49, 132;
Computation Laboratory, 65, 67-69
Henschel Aircraft Company, 15, 18; HS
293 Flying Bomb, 38
Hilbert, David, 24, 135
Hinterstein, 38
Hollerith, Herman, 4, 47
Hydrogen bomb, 126-127

IBM Corporation, 43, 48-49, 52, 68, 100, 111, 123; Card Programmed Calculator (CPC), 69; Endicott, N.Y., plant, 49, 57; Poughkeepsie, N.Y., plant, 51; Selective Sequence Electronic Computer (SSEC), 69, 150; Type 601 and 603 Multipliers, 48-49, 51, 57, 122 ILLIAC IV, 98 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 139; IAS Computer, 139-140 Institute for Applied Mathematics, Darmstadt, 37 Iowa State College, 105, 109-110 Iverson, Kenneth, 70

Jacquard, J. M., 46-47

Kepler, Johannes, 77
Kettering, Charles, 78
Kussner, H. G., 37

Lake, Clair, 49
Lehmer, D. H., 127
Leibniz, G. W., 17, 24
Leitz Optical Works, 39
Logic. See Symbolic logic; Propositional
Calculus

M-9 Gun Director, 94
Manual of Operation for the ASCC, 52,
60, 64
Mark I. See ASCC
Mark II, III, IV (Harvard), 68
Mauchly, John, 105-110 passim; education, 108, 111; and the EDVAC, 138, 142; and the ENIAC, 110-112; proposal for a computer, 108
Memory, computer, 139-140, 145, 151; EDVAC, 138; mechanical, 18, 19; readonly (ROM), 146, 152; Z3, 30
Metropolis, N., 126
MIT, 93
Monroe Calculating Company, 48
Moore School of Electrical Engineering (University of Pennsylvania), 105-107; conferences held at, 132
Multiplication, machine, 16, 21, 51, 87,
121-122, 133-134

NACA (National Advisory Committee on
Aeronautics), Langley, Va., 95
National Cash Register (NCR), 105
National Defense Research Committee
(NDRC), 94
Northrop Aircraft Company, 69

Operating Systems, 96

Palmer, R. L., 51
Pannke, Kurt, 21
Parallel vs. serial computing. See
Programming
Parity checking, 98
Pascal, Blaise, 3
Philadelphia, Penn., 104-106, 127
Plan Calculus (plankalkul) 39,
142-144
Plugboards, 47, 110, 116-119. See also
Programming
Postfix notation, 36
Prefix notation, 89
Programming, 14, 81, 144-146; by perforated tape or film, 26, 56, 116; by plugboard, 47, 116-117; sequential vs. parallel, 45-46, 60, 91, 117-119, 138139. See also Control, devices for
Programming languages, 23, 143-144,
147, 150. See also Plan Calculus
Propositional Calculus, 23-25
Punched card equipment, 4, 45-47, 51,
54, 109, 122; IBM 601 and 603,
49-50

RCA, 105
Registers, 54
Reich, H. J., 111
Relays: crossbar, 85, 87; electromechanical, xii, 22, 26, 29-32, 5859, 84-87, 97, 123; electronic, 26; mechanical 21; notation, 22; and vacuum tubes, 6
Reliability. See Errors, computer
Richardson, Lewis F., 108
Russell, Bertrand, 24
Rutishauser, Heinz, 144

Sl, S2 Computers, 38
Schreyer, Helmut, 18, 26, 28-29, 38; proposed electronic computer, 28-29
SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic
Computer), 93
Sequential vs. parallel programming. See
Programming, sequential vs. parallel
Shannon, Claude, 84, 100
Shapley, Harlow, 48
Shockley, William, 99
Simultaneous linear equations, solution of, 109
Slide rule, 11
SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic
Computer), 69, 150
Static indeterminate equations, 11,
15
Steinmetz, Charles P., 77
Stibitz, George R., xi, 6, 73-75, 98, 100, 125; and Complex Number Computer, 81-84, 86-87; education, 78-79; first work on computing, 78-79; later activities, 94-95, 125
Stored program principle, 7-8, 57, 69,
121, 132-133, 137, 144-146, 150
Strowger, Almon, 75, 85
Subtraction, 53, 55
Symbolic logic, 23, 24, 84, 87. See also
Propositional Calculus

Tables, mathematical, 45, 55, 58, 66, 102; function, 122; NBS, Handbook of Mathematical Functions, 68. See also Firing tables; Bessel functions Teichmann, Alfred, 29, 37 Telefunken Corporation, 28 Telephones, 73, 99; and computers, 31, 97; dial, 75; switchboards, 81 TRADIC (Bell Labs Transistorized Computer), 99 Transistor, 99-100 Trigger circuit, 111. See also Flip-flop Turing, Alan M., 8, 131, 134-136, 146 Turing, Sarah, 131 Turing "machine," 136

UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), 147 University of Pennsylvania. See Moore School of Electrical Engineering Ursinus College, 105, 111 U.S. Bureau of the Census, 147 U.S. Navy, 49, 51

VI, V2, etc., computers. See ZI, Z2, etc., computers Vacuum tubes, 2628, 74, 111-113, 125-126 Vail, Theodore N., 74, 75 Viete, F., 147 von Neumann, John, 6, 127, 137139; computer architecture, 139-140

Walther, Alwin, 34, 37 Watson, Thomas, 48-49, 51. See also IBM Corporation Watt, James, 4, 105 Weather forecasting, 108, 127 Weaver, Warren, 94 Western Union, 74 Whitehead, Alfred North, 24 Wiener, Norbert, 17, 93 Williams, Samuel, 84, 86-87, 92, 123 World War 11, 28-29, 43, 93, 106, 126, 149

Z1 Computer, 25, 29 Z2 Computer, 29
Z3 Computer: cost, 30; description, 29-35; destroyed, 39; programming, 35-38; specifications, 34-35 Z4 Computer, 38-39, 55-56, 132 Z5-Z11 Computers, 39 Zurich, 39 Zuse, Konrad, xi, 6, 79-80, 109, 151; and army, 29; and binary system, 17-18, 47, 84, 110, 125, 132; builds

prototype computers, 18-21, 24, 29; and concept of "reckoning," 14; education, 10-11, 15; first thoughts on computing, 11-14; and Plan Calculus, 141-143; and Plan Preparation Machine, 144; and Propositional Calculus, 22-23, 84; postwar activities, 39-40, 140-141, 151; and the Z4, 38-39



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