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The first computer was built in the late 1930s at the Iowa State University by D r . J o h n V. Atanasoff and a graduate student, Clifford Berry; it was called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC. Their calculating device consisted of two rotating drums that had capacitors mounted in them, and it was driven by an electrical circuit that made use of vacuum tube switches. Data was input on punch cards, and calculations were printed out on cards that were marked in distinctive patterns by sparks emitted by the capacitors. Answers were interpreted from the burn patterns on the cards. The ABC cost about one thousand dollars, but there were few takers. The machine could only be programmed to do one task, and it was best suited for small problems more easily solved by conventional means. The primary importance of the ABC...
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This section contains 223 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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