[SIGCIS-Members] ENIAC history

[Bjorn Westergard]

Whoops, misread your email. I thought you were characterizing ENIAC as
"Aberdeen [in semi-automatic operation] in a box".

On Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 5:20 PM, Bjorn Westergard <bjornw at gmail.com> wrote:

> Eckert, in his "Punched Card Methods" definitely seems like he would have
> agreed with "Aberdeen in a Box" view.
>
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 4:59 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP at si.edu> wrote:
>
>>  It is fascinating to see Tom and others finding new and interesting
>> things to say about the ENIAC and its programmers, a topic that some of us
>> thought was tapped out years ago. I’ve been asked to write a short piece
>> about the ENIAC in context.  I was reluctant to trot out the old cliché
>> about how much power you have in a cell phone, etc. But I did come across
>> this app for the iPhone, which puts the ENIAC in an interesting light:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.winchester.com/learning-center/ballistics-calculator/Pages/ballistics-calculator-iphone.aspx
>>
>>
>>
>> Maybe this is old news to many of you, but it was a surprise to me. A
>> ballistics calculator that does what the ENIAC was originally built for. So
>> it is not just an “ENIAC in a box”; it is “The Aberdeen Proving Ground in a
>> box.” Recall that in addition to the ENIAC, Aberdeen also had IBM punched
>> card equipment,  including some custom-designed by Wallace Eckert (the IBM
>> PSRC), a Bell Labs Model V relay computer, teams of human (mostly women)
>> computers, and Lord knows what else. Who could have thought we’d come to
>> this?
>>
>>
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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