The First Computers: History and Architectures

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.Contributors : Titiimaea F. Ala'ilima, Lin Ping Ang, William Aspray, Friedrich L. Bauer, Andreas Brennecke, Chris P. Burton, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Paul Ceruzzi, I. Bernard Cohen, John Gustafson, Wilhelm Hopmann, Harry D. Huskey, Friedrich W. Kistermann, Thomas Lange, Michael S. Mahoney, R. B. E. Napper, Seiichi Okoma, Hartmut Petzold, Raúl Rojas, Anthony E. Sale, Robert W. Seidel, Ambros P. Speiser, Frank H. Sumner, James F. Tau, Jan Van der Spiegel, Eiiti Wada, Michael R. Williams.

"A well-balanced and fascinating perspective on a wide range of early computing devices."
— Nathan Ensmenger, IEEE Spectrum

andquot;A well-balanced and fascinating perspective on a wide range of early computing devices.andquot;
-- Nathan Ensmenger, IEEE Spectrum

"A cohesive, well-defined discussion of the architecture of early computers." Mary Croarken Business History The MIT Press

A history of computing focusing on the actual architectures of the first machines that made electronic computing a practical reality.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Raúl Rojas is Professor of Computer Science at the Free University of Berlin.Ulf Hashagen is affiliated with the Munich Center for the History and Science and Technology, Deutsches Museum.

A preview of things to come : some remarks on the first generation of computers / Michael R. Williams -- The structures of computation / Michael S. Mahoney -- Reconstructions, historical and otherwise : the challenge of high-tech artifacts / Robert W. Seidel -- A classification scheme for program controlled calculators / Andreas Brennecke -- Hardware components and computer design / Harry D. Huskey -- Reconstruction of the Atanasoff-Berry computer / John Gustafson -- Howard Aiken and the dawn of the computer age / I. Bernard Cohen -- The ENIAC : history, operation, and reconstruction in VLSI / Jan Van der Spiegel ... et al. -- The Institute for Advanced Study computer : a case study in the application of concepts from the history of technology / William Aspray -- "Nothing new since von Neumann" : a historian looks at computer architecture, 1945-1995 / Paul Ceruzzi -- The DEHOMAG D11 tabulator : a milestone in the history of data processing / Friedrich W. Kistermann -- The architecture of Konrad Zuse's early computing machines / Raâul Rojas -- Konrad Zuse's Z4 : architecture, programming, and modificatios at the ETH Zurich / Ambros P. Speiser -- The plankalkèul of Konrad Zuse revisited / Friedrich L. Bauer -- The G1 and the Gèottingen family of digital computers / Wilhelm Hopmann -- Konrad Zuse and industrial manufacturing of electronic computers in Germany / Hartmut Petzold -- Helmut Hoelzer : inventor of the electronic analog computer / Thomas Lange -- The colossus of Bletchley Park : the German cipher system / Anthony E. Sale -- The Manchester Mark 1 computers / R.B.E. Napper -- Rebuilding the first Manchester computer / Christopher P. Burton -- The Atlas computer / Frank H. Sumner -- Past into present : the EDSAC simulator / Martin Campbell-Kelly --The first Japanese computers and their software simulators / Seiichi Okoma -- The Parametron Computer PC-1 and its initial input routine / Eiiti Wada.