On June 21, 1948, at what was then known as the Victoria University of Manchester, software was born. On that day 65 years ago, a proof-of-concept computer called "Baby"—officially designated as the Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine—ran the first "program" retrieved not from paper tape or hard-set switches, but from random-access memory.
Designed by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Tootil, Baby wasn't the first programmable computer. But the technology proven in Baby, with its 1,024 bits of cathode-tube based RAM, would become the basis of the first commercial computers.
In celebration of Baby's birthday, here's a look back at the first decade of computing and the computers that led to the birth of software and the computing revolution that would follow.
It's also notable that the idea of stored programs first became a widely-known concept in 1945 by way of the report "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", by John von Neumann. Hence, the concept of stored programs has come to be known as von Neumann architecture. Others on the EDVAC team claimed that von Neumann was simply re-stating ideas that were originally developed by others at UPenn (specifically, the Moore School of Electrical Engineering).
It's also notable that the idea of stored programs first became a widely-known concept in 1945 by way of the report "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", by John von Neumann. Hence, the concept of stored programs has come to be known as von Neumann architecture. Others on the EDVAC team claimed that von Neumann was simply re-stating ideas that were originally developed by others at UPenn (specifically, the Moore School of Electrical Engineering).
Sean Gallagher
Sean was previously Ars Technica's IT and National Security Editor, and is now a Principal Threat Researcher at SophosLabs. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.
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