Definition
EDVAC
The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was one of the earliest electronic stored-program computers. Unlike its predecessor, the eniac, it used binary rather than decimal arithmetic and was designed to store its instructions in the same memory as its data.
The Von Neumann Architecture
The design of the EDVAC is most famous for the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC (1945), authored by John von Neumann. This report described the logical structure of a computer that has since become known as the “von Neumann architecture”.
Obs
Von Neumann’s report explicitly analogised the machine’s basic building blocks, its “logic gates”, to electronic neurons. While the complexity of biological neurons far exceeds that of simple logic gates, the insight shifted the focus of computing from physical mechanisms to functional logic.
Technical Innovations
- Binary System: The shift to binary simplified the electronic circuits required for computation.
- Stored-program: By storing programs in memory, the machine could be reprogrammed without physical rewiring, a significant advancement over the ENIAC.
- Memory: It utilised ultrasonic delay lines for memory, which were more efficient than the vacuum tube accumulators used previously.