Talk:EDVAC

'Early' vs 'Individual' computers[edit]

Please see my new discussion on the Early Computers category discussion page. thank you. --Bubba73 00:43, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

OK, thanks for the constructive suggestions; see my reply. --Wernher 05:56, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Uses?[edit]

What were the main uses for the EDVAC? I tried to look it up but I can't find it.166.127.1.11 (talk) 21:26, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"EDVAC was delivered to the Ballistic Research Laboratory..." suggests that a main use was ballistics calculations, like ENIAC. But of course it invited many more application experiments since it was much more general purpose. Dicklyon (talk) 05:31, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

34-bit or 44-bit?[edit]

Article contains both:

ultrasonic serial memory[1] capacity of 1,000 34-bit words
ultrasonic serial memory[1] capacity of 1,000 44-bit words

Jamplevia (talk) 20:03, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I changed 44-bit to 34-bit, since 34 at least appears in the cited source Automatic Digital Computers, as the size of multiplication operands. If the memory word size is different, I don't find that. Dicklyon (talk) 05:29, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The BRL report says 44 bits. It gives details, so I believe it is correct. The fractional part of a floating point was 33 bits plus a sign bit. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:46, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That makes sense with 34-bit multiplier then. Dicklyon (talk) 21:35, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Right, with floating-point. And then 10 bits for the power of 2 - including a sign bit. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 23:20, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Computer or Calculator?[edit]

I couldn't find which the "First Draft" uses. But the Progress Report, page 3 says "computer". The Computer from Pascal to von Newman also says "computer". In the article where it talks about the contract, it says "calculator". Does the contract actually say "calculator"? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:22, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The BRL report (linked above) also says "computer". Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:52, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Artificial Intelligence[edit]

Such a machine, which can not only carry out calculations of extremely complicated mathematical problems with essentially the speed of light, but which also can exercise some degree of free choice and initiative, is under construction at the University of Pennsylvania for the Ballistic Research Laboratories at Aberdeen, Md.^[1]

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References

^ Thinking Electronic Brain Being Built for Army Evening Star November 12, 1947

[1] Thinking Electronic Brain Being Built for Army Evening Star November 12, 1947

[1]