Review of Electronic,Digital Computers

Transcription

1 Review of Electronic,Digital Computers Joint AIEE.IRE Comput~r Conference FEBRUARY 1952 Published by the AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS 33 West 39th Street, New York 18, N. Y. for the Joint AIEE.IRE Computer Confer~nce \ Printed in the United States of America Price $3.50

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3 REVIEW OF ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTERS JOINT AIEE.IRE COMPUTER CONFERENCE PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS PRESENTED AT THE JOINT AlEE-IRE COMPUTER CONFERENCE, PHILADELPHIA, PA., DECEMBER 10-12, 1951 Sponsored by the Committee on Computing Devices of the American Institubit of Electrical Engineers Electronic Computers Committee of the Institute of Radio Engineers With the participation of the Association for Computing Machinery February 1952 Published by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 33 West 39th Street New York 18, N. Y. Printed in the U.S.A.

4 JOINT AlEE-IRE COMPUTER CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Chairman J. C. MCPHERS'ON... :... International Business Machines c.orporation Secretary Publicity Chairman J. H. HOWARD.. Burroughs Adding Machine Con1pany F. J. MAGINNISS... ~... General Electric Company Program Chairman Publications Chairman N. H. TAyLOR... MIT Digital Computer Laboratory R. S. GARDNER... American Institute of Electrical Engineers Technical Editor R. M. WALKER... Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, IBM W. H. MAC WILLIAMS, JR. Bell Telephone Laboratories J. L. HILL Engineering Research Associates E. G. ANDREWS Bell Telephone Laboratories E. C. BERKELEY Association for Computing Machinery D. H. LEHMER Department of Mathematics, University of California C. V. L. SMITH Office of Naval Research S. N. ALEXANDER National Bureau of Standards H. E. TOMPKINS Burroughs Adding Machine Company S. L. GIBBLE, G. PALMER, JR. Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania Technitrol Engineering Company LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE Chairman H. E. TOMPKINS... Burroughs Adding Machine Company Finances S. L. GIBBLE... Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania Hotel Arrangements S. E. MOORE... Philadelphia Electric Compaqy R. D. ADAMS, JR...,... Philadelphia Electric Company Registration G. V. ELTGROTH... } Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, J. D. CHAPLINE, JR... Division of Remington Rand Inc. Local Publicity G. PALMER, JR... Technitrol Engineering Company R. M. GOODMAN '... American Electronic Laboratories, Inc. Related Activities E. E. JONES... " "... United Engineers and Constructors, Inc. R. R. WAGSTAFF... '".. '" United Engineers and Constructors, Inc.

5 FOREWORD The AlEE-IRE Computer Conference met on December 10-12, 1951, at Philadelphia to discuss the characteristics and performance of working, large-scale, electronic digital computers. The conference was arranged by a joint committee appointed early in 1951 by the Committee on Computing Devices of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Electronic Computers Committee of the Institute of Radio Engineers. It was felt that the development of these machines had reached a point where useful engineering information could be drawn from the experience of the designers and users of these machines and that a published account of these machines, assembled in a report of this meeting, would be of permanent value in the development of engineering knowledge of this new field of activity. The joint committee invited the co-operation of the Association for Computing Machinery, and representatives of that organization joined in the planning of the meeting and participated in the conference. The extent of interest in the subject can be appreciated from the attendance at the conference, which totalled 877 members. Descriptions of ten large-scale electronic computers of varying design and performance were presented, giving a cross-section of the varying designs to date of both parallel and serial types of electronic computers using storage devices including mercury delay lines, magnetic drums, and cathode-ray tubes. Other papers discussed detailed operating and component experience on certain of these calculators, and the final session summarized the present state of computer development and indicated some of the future possibilities of the Transistor in computer design. At the luncheon meeting on the last day of the conference, an inspiring picture of the rapidly expanding use of large-scale computers in engineering design and analysis of our new airplanes, both commercial and military, gave the members of the conference a better understanding of the ultimate usefulness of their efforts, During the conference, inspection trips gave many of the participants an opportunity to view the UNIVAC and the Burroughs Computer. and to visit the com- puter activities of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania and of the Technitrol Engineering Company.

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Keynote Address, W. H. MacWilliams, Jr The UNIVAC System, J. Presper Eckert, Jr., James R. Weiner, H. Frazer Welsh, Herbert F. Mitchell Discussion... '.' Performance of the Census UNIVAC System, J. L. McPherson, S. N.. Alexander Discussion The Burroughs Laboratory Computer, G. G. Hoberg Discussion IBM Card-Programmed Calculator, J. W. Sheldon, Liston Tatum..., Discussion The ORDVAC, R. E. Meagher, J. P. Nash In~rodu~tory Remarks, Dr. Herman Goldstine... :_... \ D'tscuss'ton Design Features of the ERA 1101 Computer, F. C. Mullaney Discussion The Operation and Logic of the MARK III Electronic Calcufator in View of Operating Experience, Glen E. Poorte Discussion..././... : The University of Manchester Computing Machine, F. C. Williams, T. Kilburn...,..., The Design, Construction, and Performance of a Large-Scale General-Purpose Digital Computer, B. W. Pollard Joint Discussion The Whirlwind I Computer, R. R. Everett...,...,..., Evaluation of the Engineering Aspects of Whirlwind I, Norman H. Taylor Joint Discussion The EDSAC Computer, M. V. Wilkes Discussion The National Bureau of Standards Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC), S. N. Alexander Engineering Experience with the SEAC, Ralph J. Slutz Joint Discussion... ' Computing Machines in Aircraft Engineering, Charles R. Strang A Review of the Bell Laboratories' Digital Computer Developments, E. G. Andrews... " 101 The Transistor as a Digital Computer Component, J. H. Felker... " 105 Discussion... " 109 Digital Compllters-Present and Future Trends, J. W. Forrester Discussion Page