Talk:Magnetic Drum Digital Differential Analyzer

Computing Low‑importance

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not clear[edit]

"These features make the MADDIDA the first fully digital computer." But ENIAC, etc were digital computers. Do you mean that it was the first fully digital differential analyzer? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:06, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The ENIAC, etc, were able to perform the act of digital computing, but they were not "fully digital" machines because they operated using analog components (i.e., an atomic clock which was used to turn the ENIAC's single current off and on). The MADIDDA became the first computer to utilize a two-current system, making it the first machine to use Boolean logic in its circuit design.[1] This made it the first "fully digital" computer both in performance (like the earlier computers) and in its hardware composition (which was new). [1]Citation "Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 9, Number 3/4, 1988, page 358 SamaraHayleySteele 03:35, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I used to have several years of the Annals of the History of Computing, but I foolishly got rid of them. I'm pretty sure that ENIAC didn't use an atomic clock. But I still don't get it - the way the clock pulses were generated doesn't really matter. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:39, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]