IBM 1401

Punched-card systems fell out of favor in the mid to late 1970s, as disk storage became cost effective, and affordable interactive terminals meant that users could edit their work with the computer directly rather than requiring the intermediate step of the punched cards. However, their influence lives on through many standard conventions and file formats. The terminals that replaced the punched cards displayed 80 columns of text, for compatibility with existing software. Many programs still operate on the convention of 80 text columns, although strict adherence to that is fading as newer systems employ graphical user ...

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Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Pre-printed cards, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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System/360 - Key features of lasting impact. The System/360 introduced a number of industry standards to the marketplace, such as: The 8-bit byte (against financial pressure during development to reduce the byte to 4 or 6 bits) Byte-addressable memory (as opposed to word-addressable memory) 32-bit words Two's complement arithmetic Segmented and paged memory Commercial use of microcoded CPUs The IBM Floating Point Architecture (until superseded by ...

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System/360, System/360 - System/360 history, System/360 - A family of computers, System/360 - The project's size and gravity, System/360 - Models, System/360 - Successors and variants, System/360 - Technical description, System/360 - Key features of lasting impact, System/360 - Architectural overview, System/360 - Basic hardware components, System/360 - Operating system software, System/360 - Remaining machines, System/360 - Notes

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Another important IBM innovation was little noticed when it was introduced with the System/370 in 1971. IBM needed a way to load new microcode into the IBM System/370 Model 158 and developed the floppy disk for this purpose. Floppy disks were invented in 1952 by Yoshiro Nakamats, eighteen years before IBM "introduced" them. cf: http://www.japaninc.net/article.php?articleID=653 and Yoshiro Nakamatsu IBM's "first" floppies were 8 inches in diameter and held 80 K bytes of data. Floppies were not used for regular program or data storage on the 370, but they became key to t ...

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Early IBM disk storage, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 350, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 353, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 355, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 1405, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 1301, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 1302, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 1311, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 2311, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 2314, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 2310, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 3330, Early IBM disk storage - IBM 3340, Early IBM disk storage - The floppy disk, Early IBM disk storage - Disk storage in 2004

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The IBM 700/7000 series had five completely different ways of storing data and instructions: First (36/18-bit words): 701 (Defense Calculator) Scientific (36-bit words): 704, 709, 7090, 7094, 7040, 7044 Commercial (variable length character strings): 702, 705, 7080, 7010 Decimal (10 digit words): 7070, 7074 Supercomputer (64-bit words): 7030 "Stretch" The 700 class used vacuum tubes, the 7000 class was transistorized. All machines (like most other computers of the time) used magn ...

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IBM 700/7000 series, IBM 700/7000 series - Architectures, IBM 700/7000 series - First Architecture 701, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Scientific Architecture 704/709/7090/7094, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Input/Output, IBM 700/7000 series - Commercial Architecture 702/705/7080, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Decimal Architecture 7070/7072/7074, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 700 series vacuum tubes 1950s, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 7000 series transistors 1960s

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Punched-card systems fell out of favor in the mid to late 1970s, as disk storage became cost effective, and affordable interactive terminals meant that users could edit their work with the computer directly rather than requiring the intermediate step of the punched cards. However, their influence lives on through many standard conventions and file formats. The terminals that replaced the punched cards displayed 80 columns of text, for compatibility with existing software. Many programs still operate on the convention of 80 text columns, although strict adherence to that is fading as newer systems employ graphical user ...

See also:

Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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Known as the Defense Calculator while in development in the IBM Poughkeepsie Laboratory, this machine was formally unveiled April 7, 1953 as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats. Numbers were either 36 bits or 18 bits long, only fixed point. (See: Why 36 bits?) Fixed point numbers were stored in binary sign/magnitude format. < ...

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IBM 700/7000 series, IBM 700/7000 series - Architectures, IBM 700/7000 series - First Architecture 701, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Scientific Architecture 704/709/7090/7094, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Input/Output, IBM 700/7000 series - Commercial Architecture 702/705/7080, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Decimal Architecture 7070/7072/7074, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 700 series vacuum tubes 1950s, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 7000 series transistors 1960s

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In 1937, Claude Shannon produced his master's thesis at MIT that implemented Boolean algebra using electronic relays and switches for the first time in history. Entitled A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, Shannon's thesis essentially founded practical digital circuit design. In November of 1937, George Stibitz, then working at Bell Labs, completed a relay-based computer he dubbed the "Model K" (for "kitchen", where he had assembled it), which calculated using binary addition. Bell Labs thus authorized a ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

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The IBM 702 and IBM 705 were similar and the 705 could run many 702 programs without modification, but they were not completely compatible. The IBM 7080 was a transistorized version of the 705, with various improvements. IBM 700/7000 series - Data format. Data was represented by a variable length string of characters terminated by a Record mark. IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format. See also:

IBM 700/7000 series, IBM 700/7000 series - Architectures, IBM 700/7000 series - First Architecture 701, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Scientific Architecture 704/709/7090/7094, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Input/Output, IBM 700/7000 series - Commercial Architecture 702/705/7080, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Decimal Architecture 7070/7072/7074, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 700 series vacuum tubes 1950s, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 7000 series transistors 1960s

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In its earliest uses, the punch card was not just a data recording medium, but a controlling element of the data processing operation. Electrical pulses produced when the read brushes passed through holes punched in the cards directly triggered electro-mechanical counters, relays, and solenoids. Cards were inexpensive and provided a permanent record of each transaction. Large organizations had w ...

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Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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Other coding schemes, sizes of card, and hole shapes were tried at various times. Mark sense cards had printed ovals that humans would fill in with a pencil. Specialized card punches could detect these marks and punch the corresponding information into the card. There were also needle cards with all the punch positions perforated so data could be punched out manually, one hole at a time, with a device like a blunt pin with its wire bent into a finger-ring on the other end. In the early 1970s, IBM introduced a new, smaller, round-hole, 96-column card ...

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Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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The explosion in the use of computers began with 'Third Generation' computers. These relied on Jack St. Clair Kilby's and Robert Noyce's independent invention of the integrated circuit (or microchip), which later led to Ted Hoff's invention of the microprocessor, at Intel. The microprocessor led to the development of the microcomputer, small, low-cost computers that could be owned by individuals and small businesses. Microcomputers, the first of which appeared in the 1970s, became ubi ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

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During World War II, the British at Bletchley Park achieved a number of successes at breaking encrypted German military communications. The German encryption machine, Enigma, was attacked with the help of electro-mechanical machines called bombes. The bombe, designed by Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, after Polish bomba, ruled out possible Enigma settings by performing chains of logical deductions implemented electrically. Most possibilities led to a con ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

Read more here: » History of computing hardware: Encyclopedia II - History of computing hardware - Colossus

Punch card - Corner cut. A major reason for the corner cut was so the punch card could not be inserted backwards or upside down. If the punch card was inserted backwards or upside down it hit a small plastic pin in the machine called the corner cut pin. This would engage a micro switch and halt the machine operation until the card was inserted properly with the corner cut on the correct side of the punch card as used in that system. Stopping the machine meant ...

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Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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Data was entered on a machine called a keypunch, which was like a large, very noisy typewriter. Often the text was also printed at the top of the card, allowing humans to read the text as well. This was done using a machine called an interpreter. Later model keypunches could do this as well. Multi-character data, such as words or large numbers, was stored in adjacent card columns known as fields. For applications in which accuracy was critical, the practice was to have two different operators key the same data, with the ...

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Punch card, Punch card - Origins, Punch card - Functional details, Punch card - IBM punch card format, Punch card - Corner cut, Punch card - Key punches, Punch card - Other formats, Punch card - Advantages, Punch card - Obsolescence, Punch card - Dimpled and hanging chads

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The IBM 7070, IBM 7072, and IBM 7074 were designed to provide a "transistorized IBM 650" upgrade path. They replaced the drum memory with core memory, but were not instruction set compatible with the 650 (so a simulator was needed to run old programs). IBM 700/7000 series - Data format. Word length - 10 decimal digit plus sign Digit encoding - two-out-of-five code Floating point - optional. Two digit exponent. Three signs for each word - Plus, Minus and ...

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IBM 700/7000 series, IBM 700/7000 series - Architectures, IBM 700/7000 series - First Architecture 701, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Scientific Architecture 704/709/7090/7094, IBM 700/7000 series - Data Formats, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Input/Output, IBM 700/7000 series - Commercial Architecture 702/705/7080, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction Format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - Decimal Architecture 7070/7072/7074, IBM 700/7000 series - Data format, IBM 700/7000 series - Instruction format, IBM 700/7000 series - Registers, IBM 700/7000 series - Memory, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 700 series vacuum tubes 1950s, IBM 700/7000 series - IBM 7000 series transistors 1960s

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The era of modern computing began with a flurry of development before and during World War II, as electronic circuits, relays, capacitors and vacuum tubes replaced mechanical equivalents and digital calculations replaced analog calculations. The computers designed and constructed then have sometimes been called 'first generation' computers. First generation computers such as the Z3 and Colossus were usually built by hand using circuits containing relays or vacuum valves (tubes), and often used punched cards or punched paper tape for input an ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

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The defining feature of a "universal computer" is programmability, which allows the computer to emulate any other calculating machine by changing a stored sequence of instructions. In 1835 Charles Babbage described his analytical engine. It was the plan of a general-purpose programmable computer, employing punch cards for input and a steam engine for power. One crucial invention was to use gears for the function served by the beads of an abacus. In a r ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

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List of IBM products - Bank and finance. IBM 2730 — Transaction validation terminal; 1971 IBM 2984 — Cash dispensing terminal; 1972 IBM 3600 — Finance Communication System; 1973 IBM 3624 — Automatic teller machine (ATM) IBM 3670 — Brokerage communications system; 1971 IBM 3895 — Deposit processing system; 1978 IBM 4370 — Personal banking machine; 1983 IBM 4372 — Personal banking machine; 1987 I ...

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List of IBM products, List of IBM products - Non-computer hardware, List of IBM products - Keypunches and verifiers, List of IBM products - Unit record equipment, List of IBM products - Calculating devices, List of IBM products - Time clocks, List of IBM products - Typewriters, List of IBM products - Electronic computers, List of IBM products - Computers based on vacuum tubes 1950s, List of IBM products - Computers based on discrete transistors 1960s, List of IBM products - Computers based on SLT or discrete IC CPUs 1964 to present, List of IBM products - Computers based on microprocessor CPUs 1981 to present, List of IBM products - Computer and calculating device peripherals, List of IBM products - Punched card and paper tape equipment, List of IBM products - Printer/plotter equipment and terminals, List of IBM products - Electrical/electronic/magnetic/optical storage units, List of IBM products - Coprocessor units, List of IBM products - Input/Output control units, List of IBM products - Fibre Channel switches directors and virtualisation products, List of IBM products - Operator's consoles and control panels, List of IBM products - Power supply/distribution units, List of IBM products - Other, List of IBM products - IBM PC components and peripherals, List of IBM products - Embedded systems, List of IBM products - Bank and finance, List of IBM products - Document processing, List of IBM products - Industry and manufacturing, List of IBM products - Medical/science/lab equipment, List of IBM products - Retail/point-of-sale POS, List of IBM products - Telecommuncations terminals, List of IBM products - Unclassified, List of IBM products - Computer software, List of IBM products - Operating systems, List of IBM products - Utilities and languages, List of IBM products - Middleware and applications

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In 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed a loom in which the pattern being woven was controlled by punched cards. The series of cards could be changed without changing the mechanical design of the loom. This was a landmark point in programmability. In 1833, Charles Babbage moved on from developing his difference engine to developing a more complete design, the analytical engine which would draw directly on Jacquard's punch cards for its programming. In 1890 the United States Census Bureau used punch cards and sorting machines d ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

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As computer designs have grown more complex, the obvious central importance of a single word size to an architecture has decreased. This is due to the more capable hardware making use of a wider variety of sizes of data since differing sizes are most effective in differing contexts. One pressure in this direction is the need to maintain backward compatibility while extending processor capability. As a result, what might have been the central word size in a fresh design has to coexist as an alternative size to ...

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Word computer science, Word computer science - Uses of words, Word computer science - Word size choice, Word computer science - Variable word architectures, Word computer science - Word and byte addressing, Word computer science - The power of 2, Word computer science - Size families, Word computer science - Table of word sizes

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Working in isolation in Nazi Germany, Konrad Zuse started construction in 1936 of his first Z-series calculators featuring memory and (initially limited) programmability. Zuse's purely mechanical, but already binary Z1, finished in 1938, never worked reliably due to problems with the precision of parts. Zuse's subsequent machine, the Z3, was finished in 1941. It was based on telephone relays and did work satisfactorily. The Z3 thus became the first functional program-controlled computer. In many ways it was quite similar to modern mac ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

Read more here: » History of computing hardware: Encyclopedia II - History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series

By the 1900s earlier mechanical calculators, cash registers, accounting machines, and so on were redesigned to use electric motors, with gear position as the representation for the state of a variable. People were computers, as a job title, and used calculators to evaluate expressions. During the Manhattan project, future Nobel laureate Richard Feynman was the supervisor of the roomful of human computers, many of them women mathematicians, who understood the differential equations which were being solved for the war effort. Even the renowned ...

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History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware - Earliest devices for facilitating human calculation, History of computing hardware - First mechanical calculators, History of computing hardware - Punched card technology 1801–, History of computing hardware - First designs of programmable machines 1835–1900s, History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s, History of computing hardware - Analog computers pre-1940, History of computing hardware - First generation of electrical digital computers 1940s, History of computing hardware - American developments, History of computing hardware - Colossus, History of computing hardware - Konrad Zuse's Z-Series, History of computing hardware - Postwar von Neumann machines -- the first generation, History of computing hardware - Second generation -- late 1950s and early 1960s, History of computing hardware - Vacuum tube circuits and drum memory, History of computing hardware - Discrete transistor circuits and core memory, History of computing hardware - Third generation and beyond post-1960, History of computing hardware - Notes, History of computing hardware - Books for further reading

Read more here: » History of computing hardware: Encyclopedia II - History of computing hardware - More limited types of mechanical gear computing 1800s–1900s