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Logic and the Invention of the Computer

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A Science of Operations

Part of the book series: History of Computing ((HC))

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Abstract

The logical investigation of the concept of effective computability and the development of the first automatic computing machines, described in the previous two chapters, were largely independent of each other. This chapter examines the development of the stored-program concept, the dominant feature of computer design since 1945, and in particular the interaction between logic and engineering in the development of the stored-program computer. The chapter takes a critical stance towards the widespread account that sees that development as a straightforward practical application of logical ideas, and offers an alternative account of the relationship between theory and practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Zuse (1993), p. 46.

  2. 2.

    Agar (2003).

  3. 3.

    Aspray (1990a).

  4. 4.

    See Aspray (1990a) and Agar (2003).

  5. 5.

    Ceruzzi (2001), p. 51.

  6. 6.

    Mahoney (1988), p. 116.

  7. 7.

    Peláez (1999), p. 359.

  8. 8.

    Ulam (1980), Hodges (1983), p. 556, emphases added.

  9. 9.

    Davis (2000).

  10. 10.

    Wang (1957), p. 63.

  11. 11.

    Mahoney (1989).

  12. 12.

    Davis (2000), p. xii.

  13. 13.

    See Campbell-Kelly and Aspray (1996) and Ceruzzi (2003), for representative accounts.

  14. 14.

    von Neumann (1945), hereafter simply ‘Draft Report’.

  15. 15.

    Campbell-Kelly and Williams (1985).

  16. 16.

    ENIAC (1943).

  17. 17.

    Eckert (1944).

  18. 18.

    Todd (1974).

  19. 19.

    Aspray (1990b), p. 27.

  20. 20.

    Aspray (1990b), p. 33.

  21. 21.

    Stern (1981).

  22. 22.

    Aspray (1990b), p. 35.

  23. 23.

    Goldstine (1972), p. 182.

  24. 24.

    Eckert et al. (1945).

  25. 25.

    Anonymous (1945).

  26. 26.

    Zuse (1993), p. 53.

  27. 27.

    Wiener (1940).

  28. 28.

    Stern (1980), Metropolis and Worlton (1980).

  29. 29.

    Ceruzzi (1998), p. 22.

  30. 30.

    Aspray (1980), pp. 147–148.

  31. 31.

    Aspray (1990b), p. 178.

  32. 32.

    Randell (1972), p. 10.

  33. 33.

    Heims (1980), p. 182ff.

  34. 34.

    Rosenblueth et al. (1943), p. 22.

  35. 35.

    Wiener (1948), p. 19, Wisdom (1951).

  36. 36.

    Rosenblueth et al. (1943), p. 22.

  37. 37.

    McCulloch (1948).

  38. 38.

    McCulloch and Pitts (1943), p. 129.

  39. 39.

    Aspray (1990b), pp. 180, 313, note 23.

  40. 40.

    von Neumann (1948), p. 412.

  41. 41.

    Wiener (1945).

  42. 42.

    Hodges (1983).

  43. 43.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 1.1, emphasis in original; Sects. 1.2, 2.2.

  44. 44.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.2.

  45. 45.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.2, emphases in original.

  46. 46.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.3, emphases in original.

  47. 47.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.4.

  48. 48.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.5, emphases in original.

  49. 49.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.6, emphases in original.

  50. 50.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 4.2.

  51. 51.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 6.2.

  52. 52.

    von Neumann (1948).

  53. 53.

    Turing (1946).

  54. 54.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1946), Burks et al. (1946).

  55. 55.

    von Neumann (1948).

  56. 56.

    Aspray (1990b), p. 40.

  57. 57.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.3.

  58. 58.

    Shannon (1938).

  59. 59.

    Ceruzzi (2001), p. 50.

  60. 60.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 2.9.

  61. 61.

    Eckert (1946).

  62. 62.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1946).

  63. 63.

    Burks et al. (1946).

  64. 64.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 11.1.

  65. 65.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 11.2.

  66. 66.

    Knuth (1970).

  67. 67.

    Burks et al. (1946).

  68. 68.

    Turing (1946).

  69. 69.

    Carpenter and Doran (1977), Peláez (1999).

  70. 70.

    Turing (1946), p. 39.

  71. 71.

    Turing (1947), p. 107.

  72. 72.

    Turing (1946), pp. 21–22.

  73. 73.

    Turing (1946), p. 22.

  74. 74.

    Peláez (1999).

  75. 75.

    Briggs (1946).

  76. 76.

    Archibald (1946).

  77. 77.

    Boring (1946).

  78. 78.

    Martin (1993), p. 130.

  79. 79.

    Berkeley (1949).

  80. 80.

    Hartree (1946a).

  81. 81.

    Martin (1993), p. 129.

  82. 82.

    Hartree (1946a).

  83. 83.

    Rope (2007).

  84. 84.

    Agar (2003), p. 7.

  85. 85.

    Turing (1948).

  86. 86.

    Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (1946).

  87. 87.

    Huskey (1948), p. 976.

  88. 88.

    Newman (1949), pp. 271–272.

  89. 89.

    Wilkes (1949).

  90. 90.

    Hartree (1949).

  91. 91.

    Hartree (1946b).

  92. 92.

    Hartree (1949), p. 97.

  93. 93.

    Hartree (1949), p. 94.

  94. 94.

    Hartree (1949), p. 97.

  95. 95.

    Shannon (1950), p. 256.

  96. 96.

    Shannon (1950), p. 265.

  97. 97.

    Shannon (1950), p. 265.

  98. 98.

    Cherry (1950).

  99. 99.

    Turing (1950b).

  100. 100.

    Turing (1950a).

  101. 101.

    Wilkes (1951b).

  102. 102.

    Wilkes (1951a), p. 88.

  103. 103.

    Prinz (1952), p. 261.

  104. 104.

    Oettinger (1952), p. 1243.

  105. 105.

    Wilkes (1953a), p. 1232.

  106. 106.

    Shannon (1953), p. 1236.

  107. 107.

    Pickering (2002).

  108. 108.

    Redmond and Smith (1980).

  109. 109.

    Turing (1947).

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    Dr. Mark Priestley

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Priestley, M. (2011). Logic and the Invention of the Computer. In: A Science of Operations. History of Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-555-0_6

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