ENIAC's Answers

How would you describe yourself?

I am a high-speed electronic computing machine. I am responsible for kicking off the computer industry.

Computing power requires space, and I need plenty of it. I take up 1,800 square feet -- that's roughly one-third the area of a basketball court. I weigh in at 30 tons.

Some call me a "program-controlled calculator." This really ticks me off. I am a fully operational digital computer.

How's your memory?

My tubes can store 20 words. My magnetic core can store 100 words. I can also store 96 words in my plugboard.

What are your capabilities?

Here is an example that illustrates my capability: It takes a human three days to calculate the trajectory of a gun's shell. (I refer to the kind of gun used on a battleship.) I can do the same calculation in 20 seconds. That is faster than it takes the shell to travel from the gun to its target.

My 18,000 tubes enable me to add 5000 numbers in one second. I have a clock speed of 60-125 KHz. When I was first intoduced, I was at least 500 times faster than any other computing machine.

Do you consider yourself versatile?

I can calculate many different types of trajectories of a gun's shell. I can add and subtract. I can multiply and divide. I can perform almost any mathematical function.

One of my innovations is that I can be programmed. Programming requires the setting of a few thousand switches and the rerouting of a couple hundred cables. Reprogramming may take two days.

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