Manchester Computers

Manchester computers

Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM)

June 21, 1948: Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine Runs First Program

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, board of directors, caucus, congress, day in tech history, department of justice, Geek, initial inquiries, internet explorer, iTunes, jim clark, Joel Klein, june 21, lawyer, legal woes, Manchester computers, Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, Microsoft, microsoft representatives, mozy, netscape, Netscape Navigator, netscape navigator browser, Podcast, robot, RSS, software giant microsoft, ssem, stitcher, Stored-program computer, summer solstice, technology history, Technology_Internet, University of Manchester 0 Comment June 20, 2019

1948 – What was first expected to be a practical use computer, the SSEM, or Small-Scale Experimental Machine became the first stored-program computer. Basically, it stores program instructions into it’s electronic memory. This 32-bit word length, cathode-ray tube computer was designed to only run subtraction and negation through hardware. Other functions could be run, but only through software.

The first program was run on this day. It was written by Professor Tom Kilbum. The seventeen-instruction stored-program took 52 minutes to run. The program was tasked to find the highest proper factor of 2¹⁸ (262,144).

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