Title :
Exploring the architecture of an early machine: the historical relevance of the ENIAC machine architecture
Author :
Marcus, Mitchell ; Akera, Atsushi
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. & Inf. Sci., Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia, PA, USA
Abstract :
After presenting the historiographical background to the ENIAC development, this paper examines the technical history of the machine. The technical section looks at the architecture of the accumulators and the master programmer unit in an attempt to illustrate both the advantages and the shortcomings of the design. In particular a description of a conditional branch mechanism and parallel operations are provided-together with a discussion of reasons why they were not used in any extensive way
Keywords :
computer architecture; history; mainframes; ENIAC machine architecture; accumulators; computer design; conditional branch mechanism; historical relevance; historiographical background; master programmer unit; parallel operations; technical history; Computer architecture; Computer industry; Electron tubes; History; Industrial electronics; Large-scale systems; Military computing; Nuclear electronics; Physics; Programming profession;
Journal_Title :
Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE
