IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

In 1947 John von Neumann had the idea of converting ENIAC to the new style of programming first described in his celebrated First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC. By April 1948, Nick Metropolis, building on plans developed by Adele Goldstine and others, had implemented the conversion, making ENIAC the first computer to execute programs written in the new style, which we call the code paradigm. Treating this as a case of user-driven innovation, the authors document the conversion process and compare capabilities of the reconstructed machine to those of the first modern computers. This article is the second in a three-part series. The first article, Reconsidering the Stored Program Concept (published in IEEE Annals, vol. 36, no. 1, 2014; http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2013.56), examined the history of the aforesaid idea and proposed a set of more specific alternatives. The third, Los Alamos Bets on ENIAC: Nuclear Monte Carlo Simulations, 1947-1948 (to appear in IEEE Annals, vol. 36, no. 3, 2014; http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MAHC.2013.56), will examine in detail the first program run on the machine after its conversion to the new programming method.

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals in Computing

The IEEE Annals: An experiment in selective dissemination

The first in a three-part series in IEEE Annals, this article gives a historical explanation of the endemic confusion surrounding the stored-program concept. The authors suggest the adoption of more precisely defined alternatives to capture specific aspects of the new approach to computing associated with the 1945 work of von Neumann and his collaborators. The second article, "Engineering--The Miracle of the ENIAC: Implementing the Modern Code Paradigm,"' examines the conversion of ENIAC to use the modern code paradigm identified in this article. The third, "Los Alamos Bets on ENIAC: Nuclear Monte Carlo Simulations, 1947-1948,"' examines in detail the first program written in the new paradigm to be executed.

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals on the History of Computing

IEEE Annals, From the Editor's Desk

IEEE Annals in Computing

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

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