Uncover how programs were developed and written for EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) a seminal early British computer.
About This Event:
Built in 1947 by a team at the Cambridge University Mathematical Laboratory, not only was EDSAC one of the first digital electronic stored program computers, it boasted a notable innovative software development system. This software development system enabled users to quickly solve mathematical problems using programs written in a symbolic code and an extensive library of subroutines, coupled with basic tracing and post mortem analysis tools. As such, EDSAC was a major advancement over its contemporary computers which were programmed using binary machine code.
In this virtual talk, Dr Andrew Herbert will describe the essential features of EDSAC, as seen by the programmer, including its order code (instruction set) and the facilities that enabled programmers to quickly construct programs for mathematical functions, reading data and printing results, using routines from the library. The following software engineering innovations introduced for the EDSAC will be discussed:
Symbolic programming
A library of subroutines
Loading and linking relocatable code to simplify program assembly
Using trace and post mortem tools to debug faulty programs.
Get started with programming the EDSAC using the same tools and techniques as the early EDSAC pioneers! This talk will be illustrated using an emulator to demonstrate how programs were run on the EDSAC. This emulator can be used to experiment with EDSAC programming. Those with some technical knowledge and a basic understanding of programming may like to use this emulator to experiment with writing practical EDSAC programs for themselves following this talk.
The talk will last for 45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute question and answer session.
Joining Information:
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