Atanasoff-Berry Computer

Drikvy.V.C (1309011)

Engineers
John Atanasoff Clifford Berry

ABC Computer
} Dynamically

refreshed capacitor for

storage
} Parallel

Computer - support 30 simultaneous operations bit binary arithmetic, 2s complement integer

} 50

ABC Computer
} US

line power 117 VAC, 60 Hz voltages : +- 120 V m of wire

} BUS

} 1600

ABC Computer
} Using

mechanical cardpunch 300 vacuum tubes less power < 1000W

} Contains } Requires

ABC Block Diagram

Anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy

ABC Instruction set

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1 s Set short vector to coefficients 1 to 5. 1s Set short vector to coefficients 6 to 10. 1s Set short vector to coefficients 11 to 15. 1s Set short vector to coefficients 16 to 20. 1s Set short vector to coefficients 21 to 25. 1s Set short vector to coefficients 26 to 30.

ABC Instruction set

} } }

} } }

1 s Vector clear memory 1. 1s Vector copy memory 1 to memory 2. 16 s Read a short vector from the base-10 card reader into part of the memory 1 vector, converting to binary using table look-up and the add-subtract modules. 1s Read a short vector from the base-2 card reader into part of the memory 1 vector. 1s Read a short vector from the base-2 card reader into part of the memory 2 vector. 1s Select a coefficient in memory 1 (for elimination or decimal output).

ABC Instruction set

s Add or subtract (chosen automatically) one row from another to eliminate the leading bit of the chosen coefficient, shifting right when successful and stopping when the chosen coefficient is zero. } 100 s Write a value to the decimal readout, using the lookup tables and add-subtract modules to convert the base-2 value to base-10.
} 100