Programming the EDSAC

The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) is home to the world's largest collection of working historic computers.Follow the development of computing: from the Turing-Welchman Bombe and Colossus of the 1940s through the large systems and mainframes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, to the rise of personal computing and the rise of mobile computing and the internet.Recognised as one of England’s top 100 ‘irreplaceable places’, we welcome corporate and group visits, schools and individuals from all over the world.We are normally open Tuesday to Friday 10:30 -17:00, Saturday & Sunday 10:30 – 17:00. Please check tickets for actual opening days and times.TNMOC operates independently of Bletchley Park Trust, although we are located on the Bletchley Park Estate.To visit us, go through the main Bletchley Park entrance, through the barrier, walk or drive bearing left beyond the main car parks, to our separate entrance located at the top of the Park.Visit their website here for more information.https://www.tnmoc.org/Sat Nav users: please use the postcode for the railway station MK3 6DS on Sherwood Drive and then follow signs. The postcode for Bletchley Park will actually take you to an old entrance which is closed.

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Uncover how programs were developed and written for EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) a seminal early British computer.

Virtual Talks and Lectures

Can't get to us in person? You don't have to miss out! Delve into an enticing and varied selection of tech-based topics, learning from brilliant experts in the comfort of your own home, with our programme of live virtual talks.

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: <ul><li>Symbolic programming </li><li>A library of subroutines </li><li>Loading and linking relocatable code to simplify program assembly </li><li>Using trace and post mortem tools to debug faulty programs. </li></ul>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: Joining information and a link to connect to this virtual talk via Zoom will be included in your booking confirmation email, generated by Eventbrite. Please check your spam folder if you have not received this. If you do not receive a booking confirmation email, please contact Emily Wager, our Events and Communications Officer, at emily.wager@tnmoc.org. This information will be shared with all attendees again via email on the day of the talk.

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Programming the EDSAC

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Programming the EDSAC

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