Talk:Stored-program computer
Points for this article
- As it is most often used adjectivally, is ‘stored program’ or ‘stored-program’ to be preferred? MOS:HYPHEN would seem to favour the latter.
- Was the virtual machine described in Turing’s 1936 ‘Computable numbers’ paper[1], a stored-program machine?
- Turing’s 1946 Automatic Computing Engine was undoubtedly a stored–program computer design in the modern sense.
- Was ENIAC’s 1948 demountable ‘function table’, a stored-program feature, as some have claimed?
- Despite being essentially a test-bed for the Williams tube, the 1948 SSEM was undoubtedly the first true stored-program computer.
- Was the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory's 1949 EDSAC the first practical stored-program machine to become operational, as is claimed?
- EDSAC pre-dated the Manchester Mark 1 by some five months.
- ^ Turing, A. M. (1936). "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (PDF). Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 2. 42 (published 1936–37): 230–65. doi:10.1112/plms/s2-42.1.230. (and Turing, A.M. (1938). "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem: A correction". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 2. Vol. 43 (published 1937). pp. 544–6. doi:10.1112/plms/s2-43.6.544.)
--TedColes (talk) 12:45, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
You bring up some good points. Honestly, I don't know enough about individual early machines to reply to all of them.
- To your first point, (Was the virtual machine described in Turing’s 1936 ‘Computable numbers’ paper[1], a stored-program machine?), no, a Turning machine can be implemented with a paper tape system or even toilet paper. No electronic storage is necessary.
- Turing’s 1946 Automatic Computing Engine was undoubtedly a stored–program computer design in the modern sense. - *Nod*. This says it was the 3rd stored program computer in Britain. Raul654 (talk) 15:44, 10 November 2010 (UTC)