Maurice Wilkes assembled the EDSAC, the first practical stored-program computer, at Cambridge University. His ideas grew out of the Moore School lectures he had attended three years earlier.
For programming the EDSAC, Wilkes established a library of short programs called subroutines stored on punched paper tapes.
Technology:
vacuum tubes
Memory:
1K words, 17 bits, mercury delay line
Speed:
714 operations per second
Manchester Mark I
The Manchester Mark I computer functioned as a complete system using the Williams tube for memory. This University machine became the prototype for Ferranti Corp.´s first computer.
Start of project:
1947
Completed:
1949
Add time:
1.8 microseconds
Input/output:
paper tape, teleprinter, switches
Memory size:
128 + 1024 40-digit words
Memory type:
cathode ray tube, magnetic drum
Technology:
1,300 vacuum tubes
Floor space:
medium room
Project leaders:
Frederick Williams and Tom Kilburn
People & Pop Culture
Thomas Watson Jr., speaking to an IBM sales meeting, predicted all moving parts in machines would be replaced by electronics within a decade.
