ENIAC
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| ENIAC | |
| |
| Character Information | |
|---|---|
| Common Names | ENIAC |
| Other Names | Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer |
| Faction | Univac clan (founder) |
| Lineage | Independent |
| Rival(s) | IAS |
| Appearance | |
| Height | ~6' |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Red |
| Weapon(s) | N/A |
| Design | |
| First Appearance | Early 2010 |
| Technical Information | |
| System Personified | ENIAC |
| Developer(s) | University of Pennsylvania, U.S. Army |
| Debut | February 14, 1946 |
| Latest release | Ca. 1950s |
Technical details
ENIAC was the first general-purpose, programmable digital computer.
Character details
Physical
ENIAC-tan is depicted as an automaton[1] with a jointed doll-style body. She's tall and lanky with a a medium olive complexion, and shoulder length black hair styled into curls/rolls. Her torso, legs and arms have sections of exposed metal, sockets and wires but these parts are generally hidden to all but her technicians.
She wears a full-length black dress reminiscent of a nun's habit or puritan's robe.[2] The many panels fastened with glass buttons allow her servants to maintain and swap out parts. She wears a veiled wide brimmed hat that typically covers her face. Her accessories include a pocket-belt, various counting beads, abacii and other calculation devices, and artillery charts rolled up and carried on her back.
After deploying to the Ballistics Research Laboratory, period Women's Army Corps uniforms were incorporated into her wardrobe, albeit modified to suit her sense of style.
Initially, ENIAC-tan was animated by coordinated manipulation of her wires.[3] She could control different parts of her body even if they were detached, and could swap out or add additional limbs.[4] The "conversion" process she underwent later in life gave her a more conventional physical configuration and improved mobility, at the cost of sheer speed and power.[5]
Personality
ENIAC-tan is prim and proper with a regal bearing that comes off as intimidating whether or not she's trying. She has a bit of a well-founded superiority complex as a computer, but is gracious and patient with her caretakers. She became more relaxed and sociable with time, but has trust issues, and does not forget or forgive offenses. She's deeply philosophical about the nature and duty of computers and ruminates frequently on her own purpose and place in the cosmos and that of others.
Relationships and family
ENIAC-tan has one true "daughter"/heir, EDVAC-tan, who in turn has several copies or half-siblings: EDSAC, Manchester Mark I, and IAS-tan.[6] Her relationship with EDVAC-tan is close but fraught, while she is contemptuous toward IAS-tan, whom she blames both for personal betrayal and profaning computer-kind by releasing them to the wider world.[7]
She socialized with more computers once she moved, becoming close with ORDVAC-tan and BRLESC-tan at the BRL.
She is the matriarch of the Univac clan.[8]
References
- ↑ Dual allusion to the simple, modular nature of ENIAC and a hint at something transcendental or supernatural about ENIAC-tan.
- ↑ Referencing the solid black color scheme of the computer.
- ↑ Early programming required manual timekeeping and rewiring.
- ↑ Modules operated independently before being linked.
- ↑ Conversion code process made the ENIAC easier to program at the cost of speed.
- ↑ EDVAC made by original ENIAC team. EDSAC, Manchester & IAS all derived from the "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", sent to different organizations before completion.
- ↑ Referencing the conflict surrounding ENIAC patent rights and attribution of invention of the stored program computer.
- ↑ Shared creative teams.