[Ads-l] digital computer

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED has a 1946 citation.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of James A. Landau [JJJRLandau at netscape.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2016 10:46 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: digital computer

Having attempted "analog(ue) computer" I should try "digital computer".

Google Books plays its usual games but does come up with a 1950 usage, in a surprising but not unlikely source.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3D2A0AAAAAMBAJ-26pg-3DPA155-26dq-3Ddigital-2Bcomputer-26hl-3Den-26sa-3DX-26ved-3D0ahUKEwj4-5FpHXnefKAhVJbB4KHSL-2DBd84FBDoAQhbMAk-23v-3Donepage-26q-3Ddigital-2520computer-26f-3Dfalse&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=sRkhHMQo6W5Ird1lkQFqb23bCfSHAR2XjUSUG53db5M&m=QPAESDThmrC0BYGw--rmmVib5b1k5k7rfr8oO_gqdww&s=hYPr8ft-Awd8c6NhdXPfV8k7d-5Yox9m61VLYeMVTG0&e=

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
article "AEC Seventh Semiannual Report: A Condensation, Prepared by Anthony Turkevich"
page 155 column 3:

"One development carried on during the war at the Army's Aberdeen Proving ground was the construction of an electronic digital computer, the so-called Eniac."   The author apparently did not realize that "ENIAC" was an acronym and therefore should have been all caps.

A related term appears in the same column of the same article:

"...Harvard University's Automatic Sequence Controlled Digital Calculator, more familiarly known as the Mark I Computer."  Interesting that the same system should be called both a "calculator" and a "computer".  Modern terminology would be that the Mark I was a computer, not a calculator.

Undoubtedly there are earlier usages, perhaps even antedating both the ENIAC and the Mark I, but Google Books did not supply them.

- Jim Landau (who thinks the Super Bowl had a really lousy selection of commercials




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