Re: [COFF] Happy birthday, John Mauchly!

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(a)horsfall.org> wrote: