2 ms·
The ENIAC was originally not Turing complete, and as you say, had to be rewired for each new problem. In 1948 it was rewired to a stored program computer, which
by alephnil 6y ago
The ENIAC was originally not Turing complete, and as you say, had to be rewired for each new problem. In 1948 it was rewired to a stored program computer, which made it Turing complete in the sense that it was essentially programmed to emulate a von Neuman machine. This made it considerably slower, but was much more practical, as it was now possible to change programs frequently. Previously it took weeks to do so. This configuration was used until it was retired.
Betty Jean Jennings Bartik, one of the original ENIAC programmers was leading this work, which was one of the main reasons she got the computer pioneer award for in 2008. Better late than never I guess.
https://www.computer.org/profiles/betty-jean-bartik https://www.computer.org/profiles/betty-jean-bartik
The Manchester Baby was the first computer that was built to be Turing complete from the start.