ABSTRACT
The world’s first digital computers began to appear at the end of the Second World War. By today’s standards they were enormous – taking up an area approximately equivalent to that of a small village hall. Their computing power was similar to that of a modern electronic calculator. But despite the shortcomings this type of computer represented a radical change in thinking – instead of using analogue techniques based on electro-mechanical systems, the architecture was based on digital electronics. These early digital designs were composed of thousands of pairs of electronic valves1 each one similar in size and appearance to a small light bulb.
