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of the engineers who had previously worked on the creation of the ENIAC at the Moore
School.
Although soon overtaken in the marketplace by mainframes developed by IBM, the
computer Eckert-Mauchly created for the Census Bureau was nothing short of elegant, and
a marvel of innovation. (Ceruzzi has called it a "technical masterpiece." To this he adds:
"Many design features that later became commonplace first appeared in the UNIVAC:
among them were alphanumeric as well as numeric processing, an extensive use of extra
bits for checking, magnetic tapes for bulk memory, and circuits called 'buffers' that allowed
high-speed transfers between the fast delay line and slow tape storage units.")
The UNIVAC weighed 29,000 pounds, used 5,200 vacuum tubes, consumed 125 kW,
and performed approx. 1,905 operations per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. Of most
importance to users was the fact, already noted above, that it was the first computer to use
magnetic tape for high-speed storage, obliterating the need for punch-cards.
Concurrent with the early phases of development for the UNIVAC, Eckert-Mauchly
started a software department which developed a number of ground-breaking tools, includ-
ing the world's first compiler, this for the language "Short Code." (A compiler transforms
source code written in one programming language into another computer language, often
having a binary form known as "object code," itself often required to render a program ex-
ecutable on a given piece of hardware. Note that the FORTRAN [Formula Translating Sys-
tem] team led by John Backus at IBM is generally credited as having introduced the first
complete, commercially-viable compiler, having done so in 1957.)
Eckert-Mauchly also developed the BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer: basically a
smaller version of the ENIAC) for the Northrop Aircraft Corporation. This machine was
handed over to Northrop in September of 1949. Evidently for various logistical reasons
(either because of inadequate packing for transport on the part of Eckert-Mauchly, or be-
cause Northrop engineers insisted on reassembling the computer themselves rather than al-
low Eckert-Mauchly engineers to do the job), the BINAC never ran well for Northrop and
was eventually abandoned by the firm.
In time, a total of 46 UNIVAC machines were commissioned and delivered, with the
price going up slowly from $159,000 to $1,500,000. (Eckert and Mauchly were great
engineers, but lousy businessmen. Their initial binding quote to the Census Bureau of
$159,000 had been egregiously conservative. Eckert-Mauchly drastically under-estimated
development costs for the machine. This money had to be made up by more aggressive
pricing for subsequent installations.) Although the earliest sales of the computer were to
government agencies and the military, the UNIVAC was also adopted commercially by the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, General
Electric, U.S. Steel, DuPont, Westinghouse, Sylvania and Consolidated Edison.
The UNIVAC was used to produce the first concordance of the Revised Standard Ver-
sion of the Bible in 1956. The UNIVAC was also used by CBS to forecast the outcome of
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