The SWAC (Standards Western Automatic Computer) was an early electronic digital computer built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Los Angeles, California. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It was designed by Harry Huskey. Harry Douglas Huskey (born January 19, 1916) is an American computer designer pioneer Like the SEAC, built about the same time, the SWAC was a small-scale interim computer designed to be built quickly and put into operation while the NBS waited for more powerful computers to be completed (in particular, the RAYDAC by Raytheon). SEAC ( S tandards E lectronic/ E astern A utomatic C omputer) was a first-generation electronic Computer, built in The RAYDAC (for Ray theon D igital A utomatic C omputer was a one-of-a-kind computer built by Raytheon. Raytheon Company ( is a major American Defense contractor and industrial corporation with core Manufacturing concentrations in Defense systems
The machine used 2300 vacuum tubes. This article is about the electronic device not an evacuated pipe used for experiments in Free-fall. It had 256 words of memory, using Williams tubes (picture), with each word being 37 bits. Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to Computer components devices and recording media that retain digital The Williams tube or the Williams-Kilburn tube (after inventors Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn) developed about 1946 or 1947 A bit is a binary digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1 Binary digits are a basic unit of Information storage and communication It had only seven basic operations: add, subtract, and multiply (single precision and double precision versions); comparison, data extraction, input, and output. In Computing, single precision is a Computer numbering format that occupies one storage location in computer memory at a given address In Computing, double precision is a Computer numbering format that occupies two adjacent storage locations in computer memory Input is the term denoting either an entrance or changes which are inserted into a System and which activate/modify a Process. Output is the term denoting either an exit or changes which exit a System and which activate/modify a Process.
When the SWAC was completed in July 1950, it was the fastest computer in the world. It continued to hold that status until the IAS computer was completed a year later. The IAS machine was the first electronic digital Computer built by the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS, Princeton NJ, USA. It could add two numbers and store the result in 64 microseconds. The second ( SI symbol s) sometimes abbreviated sec, is the name of a unit of Time, and is the International System of Units A similar multiplication took 384 microseconds. It was used by the NBS until 1954 until the Los Angeles office was closed, and then by UCLA until 1967 (with modifications). Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. It was charged out there for $40. -/hour.
In 1952, Raphael M. Robinson used the SWAC to discover five Mersenne primes—the largest prime numbers known at the time, with 157, 183, 386, 664, and 687 digits. Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Raphael Mitchel Robinson ( November 2 1911, National City California - January 27 1995. In Mathematics, a Mersenne number is a positive integer that is one less than a Power of two: M_n=2^n-1
References
- Williams, Michael R. (1997). Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar A History of Computing Technology. IEEE Computer Society. IEEE Computer Society is an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE
External links
IEEE Transcript: SWAC—Standards Western Automatic Computer: The Pioneer Day Session at NCC July 1978