PRINCIPLES AND PROGRESS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIGH-SPEED DIGITAL COMPUTERS
ANDREW D. BOOTH, Kathleen H. V. Britten · The Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics · 1949
The basic principles underlying the mathematical design of high-speed digital computers are discussed and the necessary components of such machines defined. Scale of notation, the form of the ‘memory’, the action of the control, and other practical details are considered, and a brief discussion is included of the exact arithmetic functions of which these machines must be capable. This is followed by a description of current computer projects in America. Aiken's second relay computer at Harvard, the Bell relay machine, E.D.V.A.C., and the Princeton electronic computer are described briefly and an idea given of their state of completion in 1947.