[COFF] Happy birthday, John Mauchly!

[Andru Luvisi]

We can split hairs about which early computing devices first implemented
which automatic computing ideas, but I hope I can make 2 statements without
much controversy.

The ENIAC was the first device to be automatic, electronic,
general-purpose, and digital. That combination contained synergies that
were more than just the sum of the features.

In particular, the ENIAC advanced the state-of-the-art in computing speed
by 3 orders of magnitude, from 5 or 6 additions per second to 5000
additions per second.

I gave a talk in 2012 about early computer history, and a substantial
portion was dedicated to the ENIAC.
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_yVXcK_aM
Here's the handout:
http://web.sonoma.edu/users/l/luvisi/somehist/somehist.pdf

Andru

On Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 7:30 PM Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:

> We gained computer pioneer John Mauchly on this day in 1907; he was best
> known
> as the co-inventor of ENIAC, one of the world's first computers.
>
> -- Dave
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