Sixty years ago the "modern computer" was born in a lab in Manchester.The Small Scale Experimental Machine, or "Baby", was the first to contain memory which could store a program.The room-sized computer's ability to carry out different tasks - without having to be rebuilt - has led some to describe it as the "first modern PC".Using just 128 bytes of memory, it successfully ran its first set of instructions - to determine the highest factor of a number - on 21 June 1948. ....."It was the earliest machine that was a computer, in the sense of what everyone today understands a computer to be," explained Chris Burton of the Computer Conservation Society (CCS)."It was a single piece of hardware which could perform any application depending on what program you put in."
The first program was written by the late Tom Kilburn to work out the highest factor of a prime number.
Baby morphed into the Manchester Mark I and eventually the first commercial general purpose computer, the Ferranti Mark I....A working replica of Baby is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
The Small Scale Experimental Machine,
The room-sized computer
QuoteThe Small Scale Experimental Machine,andQuoteThe room-sized computerseem a bit contradictory by todays standards
Mr Bill Gates (centre in black suit) and Mr G R Isoft (seated) look onworriedly as Technicians try to overcome the conflict between Vistaand AVG 8.0. dave
