atanasoff-berry computer

1 definition found

atanasoff-berry computer - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  Atanasoff-Berry Computer
  
     <computer> (ABC) An early design for a binary calculator, one
     of the predecessors of the digital computer.  The ABC was
     partially constructed between 1937 and 1942 by Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff
      and Clifford Berry at Iowa State College.
     As well as binary arithmetic, it incorporated regenerative memory
     , parallel processing, and separation of memory and
     computing functions.
  
     The electronic parts were mounted on a rotating drum, making
     it hybrid electronic/electromechanical.  It was designed to
     handle only a single type of mathematical problem and was not
     automated.  The results of a single calculation cycle had to
     be retrieved by a human operator, and fed back into the
     machine with all new instructions, to perform complex
     operations.  It lacked any serious form of logical control or
     conditional statements.
  
     Atanasoff's patent application was denied because he never
     have a completed, working product.  Ideas from the ABC were
     used in the design of ENIAC (1943-1946).
  
     (http://cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml).
  
     (2003-09-28)