IBM 704

The IBM 704, the first mass-produced computer with floating point arithmetic hardware, was introduced by IBM in April, 1954. The 704 was significantly improved over the IBM 701 in terms of architecture as well as implementation, and was not compatible with its predecessor.

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Changes from the 701 included the use of core memory (instead of Williams tubes) and addition of three index registers. To support these new features, the instructions were expanded to use the full 36-bit word. The new instruction set became the base for the IBM 700/7000 series scientific computers.

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To quote the IBM 704 Manual of operation (see external links below):

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:The type 704 Electronic Data-Processing Machine is a large-scale,

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:high-speed electronic calculator controlled by an internally stored

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:program of the single address type.

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IBM stated that the device was capable of executing up to 40,000 instructions per second. IBM sold 123 type 704 systems from 1955 to 1960.

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The programming languages FORTRAN and LISP were first developed for the 704, as was MUSIC 1, the first computer music program by Max Mathews.

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Computer: A computer is a device or for processing information from data according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. The information to be processed may represent numbers, text, pictures, or sound, amongst many other types....

Floating point: A floating-point number is a digital representation for a number in a certain subset of the rational numbers, and is often used to approximate an arbitrary real number on a computer. In particular, it represents an integer or fixed-point number (the significand or, informally, the mantissa) multip...

IBM: :Big Blue redirects here. For the movie, see The Big Blue....

IBM 704 related Images and Photos (experimental)

Technician Manipulating 1 of Hundreds of Dials on Panel of IBM's Room Size Eniac Computer