Many years back when I
studied Computer programming, I was
taught that ENIAC (Electronic Numeric
Integrator And Calculator) is the first digital computer. It was created by
Eckert J P and Mauchly J. It took around 3 years. The purpose was to help in World
War II against German forces. It was a huge machine. It used about 20000 vacuum tubes, 70000 resistors, 10000 capacitors and 1500
relays. It occupied about 1800 square
feet. It used huge amount of electricity
about 200 kilo watts. It weighed about 30 tons. How much did it cost? Just about
$4,87000 J
It is 72 years old now. It was retired in a very young age and enjoys its
retired life in Smithsonian Institution.
Later I found that ENIAC has elder siblings. Some names to mention are:
- Z1 (it has German citizenship), and it is almost ten years elder to ENIAC.
- Colossus (British citizenship) was used for code breaking.
- ABC (Atnasoff-Berry Computer) is of American origin.
ENIAC certainly has younger sibling and is ancestor of all computers
we are using today and will use in future.
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