An Earlier Kind of Computer [History]

When we hear the word computer today, we automatically think of a digital, general purpose, programmable device. From laptops to paralleled supercomputers, they all share these characteristics. However, before there was digital, there was analog. Before there was general purpose, there was special purpose. Before there was programmable, there was hard wired. Before there was UNIVAC, or even ENIAC, there was the Mark 1. This paper gives a brief discussion about Mark 1 which was a product of 40 years of development of mechanical analog computers for gun fire control on Navy ships.