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IBM 650
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{{Short description|Vacuum-tube 1950s computer system}} {{Infobox information appliance | name = IBM 650 | cost = | successor = [[IBM 7070]] (hi-end){{br}}[[IBM 1620]] (low-end) | logo_size = 120px | logo_caption = | image = IBM 650 EMMA.jpg | image_size = 270px | caption = Part of the first IBM 650 computer in Norway (1959), known as "EMMA". 650 Console Unit (right, an exterior side panel is open), 533 Card Read Punch unit (middle, input-output). 655 Power Unit is missing. Punched card sorter (left, not part of the 650). Now at [[Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology]] in [[Oslo]]. | type = [[Digital computer]] | designfirm = | manufacturer = | release date = {{Start date and age|1954}} | discontinued = | processor = | memory = | logo = IBM Logo 1947 1956.svg | frequency = | slots = | coprocessor = | connection = | ports = | power = | speed = | language = | weight = | dimensions = | predecessor = [[IBM CPC]] ([[IBM 604|604]], 605) | related = [[IBM 701]], [[IBM 702]]; {{br}}[[IBM 608]] | family = }} [[File:IBM 650 at Texas A&M.jpg|thumb|IBM 650 at Texas A&M University. The IBM 533 Card Read Punch unit is on the right.]] [[File:IBM 650.002 - MUNCYT.jpg|thumb|IBM 650 console panel, showing bi-quinary indicators.<ref name="650-manual-of-operation"/>{{rp|p. 47ff}} Note wear marks around frequently used switches, lower right. Collection of the Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología. A Coruña (Galicia, Spain).]] [[File:IBM 650 panel close-up of bi-quinary indicators.jpg|thumb|Close-up of bi-quinary indicators]] [[File:Memoria a tamburo magnetico per sistema IBM 650 - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano D1171.jpg|thumb|Memory drum from an IBM 650]] [[File:Coruña, MUNCYT 01-21b.JPG|thumb|Side view of an IBM 650 Console Unit. First computer in Spain (1959) now at [[National Museum of Science and Technology (Spain)|National Museum of Science and Technology]] in [[A Coruña]]]] The '''IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine''' is an early [[digital computer]] produced by [[IBM]] in the mid-1950s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_ph06.html |title=IBM Archives: IBM 650 installation with IBM 727 Magnetic Tape Unit and IBM 355 Disk Storage |website=IBM |location=US |access-date=September 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409023954/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_ph06.html |archive-date=2023-04-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_ph05.html |title=IBM Archives: IBM 650 Assembly at Endicott plant |website=IBM |location=US |access-date=September 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023160555/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_ph05.html |archive-date=2023-10-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was the first mass-produced computer in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=History Of Computers 1937-2011 |url=https://www.cs.odu.edu/~tkennedy/cs300/development/Public/M01-HistoryOfComputers/index.html |website=Old Dominion University |access-date=June 22, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=IBM in the Computer Era |url=https://mncomputinghistory.com/ibm-in-the-computer-era/ |website=The Minnesota Computing History Project |date=28 June 2018 |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref> Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962,<ref>{{cite book|last=Pugh|first=Emerson W.|url=https://archive.org/details/buildingibmshapi00pugh|title=Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology|publisher=MIT Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-262-16147-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/buildingibmshapi00pugh/page/n191 182]|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> and it was the first computer to make a meaningful profit.<ref name=":0" /> The first one was installed in late 1954 and the IBM 650 was the most popular computer of the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Gordon B. |year=1971 |title=Introduction to Electronic Computers|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoel00davi |url-access=registration |edition=Second |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoel00davi/page/10 10] |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-070-15821-4}}</ref> The 650 was offered to business, scientific and engineering users as a slower and less expensive alternative to the [[IBM 701]] and [[IBM 702]] computers, which were for scientific and business purposes respectively.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Calculator|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/650.html|access-date=|website=Columbia.edu}}</ref> It was also marketed to users of [[unit record equipment|punched card machines]] who were upgrading from [[Unit record equipment#Calculating|calculating punches]], such as the [[IBM 604]], to computers.<ref name="650-manual-of-operation">{{Cite book|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/650/22-6060-2_650_OperMan.pdf|title=IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine: Manual of Operation|publisher=IBM|year=1955|id=22-6060-1}}</ref>{{rp|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_cu1.html |title=IBM Archives: 650 Customers |website=IBM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725133257/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_cu1.html |archive-date=2023-07-25 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Because of its relatively low cost and ease of [[Computer programming|programming]], the 650 was used to pioneer a wide variety of applications, from modeling submarine crew performance<ref>{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Wayne D.|url=https://archive.org/details/integratedmodels00gray|title=Integrated Models of Cognition Systems|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-518919-3|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/integratedmodels00gray/page/n54 36]|url-access=limited}}</ref> to teaching high school and college students computer programming. The IBM 650 became highly popular in universities, where a generation of students first learned programming.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=IBM 650 magnetic drum calculator introduced|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1954/|access-date=|website=Computerhistory}}</ref> It was announced in 1953 and in 1956 enhanced as the '''IBM 650 RAMAC''' with the addition of up to four disk storage units.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_pr2.html |title=IBM Archives: 650 RAMAC announcement press release |website=IBM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609092034/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_pr2.html |archive-date=2023-06-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The purchase price for the bare IBM 650 console, without the reader punch unit, was $150,000 in 1959,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-01-23 |title=IBM Archives: IBM 650 Model 4 announcement press release |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_pr4.html |access-date=2023-07-25 |website=IBM |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023160555/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_pr4.html |archive-date=2023-10-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> or roughly $1,500,000 as of 2023. Support for the 650 and its component units was withdrawn in 1969. The 650 was a [[Memory address|two-address]], [[bi-quinary coded decimal]] computer (both data and addresses were decimal), with [[Computer memory|memory]] on a rotating magnetic [[drum memory|drum]]. [[Character (computing)|Character]] support was provided by the input/output units converting punched card alphabetical and special [[character encoding]]s to/from a two-digit decimal code. The 650 was clocked at a frequency of 125 kHz.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Royse |first=David |book-title=Papers presented at the February 26-28, 1957, western joint computer conference: Techniques for reliability on - IRE-AIEE-ACM '57 (Western) |date=1957 |title=The IBM 650 RAMAC system disk storage operation |url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1455567.1455576 |language=en |publisher=ACM Press |pages=43–49 |doi=10.1145/1455567.1455576|doi-access=free }}</ref> It could add or subtract in 1.63 milliseconds, multiply in 12.96 ms, and divide in 16.90 ms. The average speed of the 650 was estimated to be around 27.6 ms per instruction, or roughly 40 instructions per second.<ref name="KnuthNotes">{{Cite web |title=Knuth Biographic Notes |url=https://softpanorama.org/People/Knuth/knuth_biographic_notes.shtml |access-date=2023-07-25 |website=softpanorama.org}}</ref> [[Donald Knuth]]'s series of books ''[[The Art of Computer Programming]]'' is famously dedicated to a 650.<ref name="KnuthNotes"/>
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