The Debate Rages On (Score 2)

As a society we are really into superlatives. Whatever is the biggest, fastest, first or most extereme we like. So which was really first? ENIAC? ABC? Z3?

The significance of Eckert and Mauchly's ENIAC isn't necessarily that it was the very earliest design of a programmable computer. It is generally acknowledged that Charles Babbage had the idea of a machine to do arithmetic, but was limited by the technology of the time. It is intersting to note that ENIAC was put together by Eckert and Mauchly without any knowledge of Babbage and the work that had already been done. (They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble.)

What is MOST important about ENIAC is what it did, and when. It was the first computer project to recieve hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the military.

It accurately showed that original plans for the H-bomb would not work.

The unveiling of the ENIAC merited a front page story on the New York Times. It sparked the imaginations of others to build better computers. It proved to everyone that age of electronically mechanized arithmetic had arrived.

The ENIAC's design subsequently spawned the EDVAC, BINAC, and the UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Calculator, which accurately predicted Eisenhower's landslide presidential victory on CBS News, to the disbelief of CBS reporters and sponsors. The last UNIVAC lasted until 1969!)

Indeed, it may be argued which was really the very first computer, but it must be acknowledged that Eckert and Mauchly's ENIAC was the first major breakthrough in the field as far as publicity was concerned. And at the time, every bit of publicity that could be gained was critical to the advancement of computers.

But to get the most clear picture of the history of computers, we must look at it less like a singular, linear thread and more like a tapestry, with many significant things that happened simultaneously, many brilliant minds and contributors, and many stories that led up to what we have today.