Note
Inception and Purpose:
EDSAC was developed at the University of Cambridge after World War II. Inspired by John von Neumann’s influential report on the EDVAC, EDSAC was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. It became the world’s first stored-program computer to go into regular service.
Technical Overview:
Memory: EDSAC used mercury delay lines for memory and derated vacuum tubes for logic.
Cycle Time: Ordinary instructions had a cycle time of 1.5 ms, while multiplication took 6 ms.
Input and Output: Input was via five-hole punched tape, and output was through a teleprinter.
Registers: Initially, EDSAC had an accumulator and a multiplier register. Later, an index register was added.
Main Memory: Initially, it had only 512 18-bit words, but it was upgraded to 1024 words later.
Shutdown: EDSAC was finally shut down in 1958, superseded by EDSAC 2.
Achievements:
EDSAC’s first programs ran on 6 May 1949, calculating a table of square numbers and a list of prime numbers. It served the university’s research needs and contributed significantly to scientific progress. EDSAC’s legacy extended to the development of the commercial computer LEO I, based on the EDSAC design.
In summary, EDSAC’s pioneering work laid the groundwork for subsequent generations of computers, making it a crucial milestone in the evolution of computing technology12. If y