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Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by callamdelaney on Thursday July 30, 2020 @04:02PM (#24002295)
`Computers themselves were initially designed for artillery fire control, with an explicit intention of killing people.` any citation for this?
Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by jhayward on Thursday July 30, 2020 @04:12PM (#24002376)
"The first fully functioning electronic digital computer to be built in the U.S. was ENIAC, constructed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, for the Army Ordnance Department, by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. Completed in 1945, ENIAC was somewhat similar to the earlier Colossus, but considerably larger and more flexible (although far from general-purpose). The primary function for which ENIAC was designed was the calculation of tables used in aiming artillery. ENIAC was not a stored-program computer, and setting it up for a new job involved reconfiguring the machine by means of plugs and switches. For many years, ENIAC was believed to have been the first functioning electronic digital computer, Colossus being unknown to all but a few."[1]

[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-history/

Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by heinrich5991 on Thursday July 30, 2020 @04:23PM (#24002470)
> to be built in the U.S.

What about the global situation? Is it the same?

Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by thereticent on Thursday July 30, 2020 @06:51PM (#24003694)
The UK had Colossus a bit earlier, which I believe was the first fully electronic digital computer.
Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by yesbabyyes on Thursday July 30, 2020 @11:41PM (#24005422)
Don't forget about Konrad Zuse's Z3!
Re:The Haskell Elephant in the Room by jhayward on Friday July 31, 2020 @11:13AM (#24009405)
In addition to the digital computers in the 2nd half, analog computers for naval guns were commonly fielded in the early parts of the 20th century.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangekeeper