[[ENIAC]] (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the world's first general-purpose electronic digital computer. It was designed and built between 1943 and 1945 by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Here are some key details about ENIAC: 1. Purpose: ENIAC was primarily developed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II. Its main goal was to speed up complex calculations that were previously done manually. 2. Size and Weight: ENIAC covered an area of about 1,800 square feet (167 square meters) and weighed around 30 tons. 3. Architecture: Unlike modern computers, ENIAC used decimal arithmetic instead of binary. It had 17,468 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 manual switches, and consumed around 150 kilowatts of electricity. 4. Programming: ENIAC programming involved physically rewiring the machine by plugging/unplugging cables and setting switches manually. This process often took days or weeks to complete. 5. Speed: While it may seem slow compared to today's standards, ENIAC performed calculations much faster than manual methods at the time. It could perform around 5,000 additions or subtractions per second. 6. Reliability: Due to the large number of vacuum tubes used in its construction, ENIAC was prone to frequent failures that required extensive troubleshooting and maintenance work. 7. Impact: The introduction of ENIAC marked a significant milestone in the history of computing as it laid the foundation for future developments in electronic computers. It showcased the potential of using electronic machines for complex calculations and paved the way for further advancements in computing technology. Despite its groundbreaking capabilities, ENIAC had limitations such as its enormous size, high power consumption, and the need for manual reprogramming. However, it served as the basis for subsequent computer designs and set the stage for the digital revolution that followed. # What is ENIAC's relation to John von Neumann? ENIAC's relation to John von Neumann is that he played a significant role in the development and programming of ENIAC. Von Neumann was involved in the development of ENIAC during World War II while working at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering. He worked closely with the team responsible for designing and constructing ENIAC, including J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. One of von Neumann's key contributions was his proposal for a stored program concept, which allowed instructions to be stored in memory alongside data. This idea greatly enhanced the flexibility and programmability of computers like ENIAC. His work on the logical design and organization of computers laid the foundation for modern computer architecture. Von Neumann also went on to contribute to the development of subsequent computers such as EDVAC, which built upon the concepts introduced with ENIAC. His ideas on computer architecture, particularly his concept of a [[CPU|central processing unit]] ([[CPU]]) capable of executing instructions fetched from memory, became widely influential in computer science.