On evening of February 14th, 1946, the ENIAC’s completed machine was announced.
The ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was the first programmable, electronic, and general-purposed digital computer.
It was designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert during World War II, and it initially aided in ballistics calculations for the US Army. Six women, referred to as “computers” at the time, and a team of scientists also programmed the machine.
Unlike predecessors relying on mechanical components, the ENIAC utilized vacuum tubes that span over 17000, offering much faster computations. Its modular design with separate units for functions like addition and multiplication contributed to its versatility. That is to say, programming involved manipulating patch cables and switches. In sum, it was a large, modular computer that used vacuum tubes and punch cards.
The ENIAC had different approach in programming techniques as it was a very different machine compared to modern computer architecture. It encouraged dataflow, Parallelism, Looping and Branching, and Debugging. A fun fact regarding its algorithm was that it only 20 words of memory, meaning that the programmers had to breakdown complex problems into smaller steps and had to reuse memory to achieve standard calculations.
Due to technical advancements, maintenance challenges, and more, the ENIAC retired in 1955. Despite its retirement, its success paved the way for a smaller and more advanced computer.
Sources:
https://www.si.edu/object/eniac%3Anmah_1297478
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8467000
https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/courses/BIB/eniac.pdf
Know more about APC at https://apc.edu.ph