65 Years Ago, Manchester's 'Baby' Ran Electronically Stored Program 103
hypnosec writes that the first ever practical implementation of the stored program concept took place 65 years ago, "as the Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine aka 'Baby' became the world's first computer to run an electronically stored program on June 21, 1948. The 'Baby' was developed by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill at the University of Manchester. 'Baby' served as a testbed for the experimental Williams-Kilburn tube – a cathode ray tube that was used to store binary digits, aka bits. The reason this became a milestone in computing history was that up until 'Baby' ran the first electronically stored program, there was no means of storing and accessing this information in a cost-effective and flexible way."
Re:Was it really only 65 years ago? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How (Score:4, Funny)
There's a standard template to apply to any debate about the history of computing:
The first computer with $GIVEN_FEATURE was actually invented by $GENIUS_LONER who worked for $SOME_INSTITUTION in $CENTRAL_EUROPEAN_COUNTRY a full $N_GREATER_THAN_10 years before $GIVEN_DATE. Sadly, his invention was ignored because of $INSTITUTION_POLITICS, the inventor's $PERSONAL_FAILINGS, and meddling by the $OPPRESSIVE_REGIME. Only a single example of the system was built, and it languished in $DISUSED_BASEMENT, until was unfortunately destroyed during $WARTIME_EVENT.