View source for DDP-24

{{Short description|24-bit computer designed and built by Computer Control Company in 1963}}
{{Infobox supercomputer
| name         =
| image        =
| caption      =
| manufacturer = [[Computer Control Company]]
| designer     =
| release date = 1963<ref name="1967survey">[http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/AdamsReport1967Q4-1968Q1.pdf Adams Report 1967, PDF]</ref>
| units sold   = 25+ (1964)<ref name="1964survey">[http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-c.html#CCC-DDP-24 BRL REPORT NO. 1227 JANUARY 1964]</ref>
| price        = $87,000.00<ref name="1964survey"/>
| dimensions   = Length : {{convert|233|cm|in|abbr=on}}<br>Depth : {{convert|100|cm|in|abbr=on}}<br>Height : {{convert|155|cm|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="manual">[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computerControlCompany/ddp-24/DDP-24_InstructionMan_Aug64.pdf DDP-24 Instruction Manual, August 64, PDF]</ref>
| weight       = {{convert|2000|lb}} <ref name="1964survey"/>
| power        = 2000 [[Watt|W]]
| voltage      = 115 V AC<ref name="manual"/>
| front-end    =
| os           =
| cpu          = [[24-bit]] [[Processor (computing)|processor]]
| frequency    = 200 [[kilohertz|kHz]] (5 μs cycle)<ref name="1967survey"/>
| memory       = 98 [[kilobytes]] (32767 x 24 bit)
| storage      =
| mips         = 0.2 MIPS
| flops        = 100 000 FLOPS
| successor    = DDP-224
| predecessor  =
}}
The '''DDP-24''' (1963<ref name="1967survey"/>) was a 24-bit computer designed and built by the [[Computer Control Company]], aka 3C, located in [[Framingham, Massachusetts]]. In 1966 the company was sold to [[Honeywell]] who continued the DDP line into the 1970s.
<!-- moved material to CCC article
The company then built the DDP-224 (1965<ref name="1967survey"/>), which was followed by the DDP-124 (1966<ref name="1967survey"/>, [[integrated circuit]])
<ref>One of the developers of the DDP-124, [[William Poduska]], who later on became one of the founders of [[Prime Computer]], said in a 2002 interview that the 124 came after the 224, which came after the 24. The 24, 224, 124 sequence is confirmed in {{cite web |url=http://www.ddp116.org/products/ddp124/ddp124.pdf
|title=DDP-124 Microcircuit General Purpose Digital Computer}}</ref>.
Prior to CCC's 1966 acquisition by [[Honeywell]]<ref name="1967survey"/><ref>Kenneth Flamm's 2010 book, {{ISBN|0815707215}}, named "Creating the Computer"</ref>, Computer Control Corporation also built the 16-bit [[DDP-116]] (1965)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0OeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|title=The European Computer Users Handbook 1968/69: Pergamon Computer Data Series|last=Zhou|first=Yong|date=2014-05-23|publisher=Elsevier|others=First installation dates|year=|isbn=9781483146690|location=|pages=111.20|language=en}}</ref>.
-->
==Hardware==
The DDP-24 was completely transistorized and used [[magnetic-core memory]] to store data and program instructions. It had a [[Signed number representations|sign magnitude code]] to represent positive or negative numbers and used binary logic. The DDP-24 used a [[Addressing mode|single address]] command format and single operation with index and indirect addressing flags.
==Market acceptance==
The DDP-24 found use in space and flight simulators of the mid-1960s and other real-time scientific data processing applications.
Peter B. Denes, a researcher at [[Bell Labs|Bell Telephone Laboratories]], Inc., installed a DDP-224 system around 1965 for use in speech research.<ref>Denes, Peter B., "Real-Time Speech Research," Proc. Symposium on the Human Use of Computing Machines, Bell Telephone Laboratories, June 1966, pp. 15-23.</ref> It and a DDP-24 were used by [[Max Mathews]], considered by many to be the founding father of computer music, to develop his GROOVE music system, as related by Professor [[Barry Vercoe]] in a 1999 [[MIT Media Lab]] interview.<ref>[http://www.media.mit.edu/events/EMS/bv-interview.html 1999 MIT Media Lab interview with Professor Barry Vercoe]</ref> When asked to describe the first [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] experimental music studio, Prof. Vercoe replied, "We began that work when I first arrived in 1971. The first studio we had was in the basement of Building 26, where we had a computer given to MIT by Max Mathews--the Honeywell DDP-24. Max initially developed his GROOVE system on this machine and was kind enough to give it to MIT when I joined the faculty." The 3C DDP-24 used modules or cards called S-Pac's. These S-Pac cards could be [[Flip-flop (electronics)|Flip-Flops]], [[NAND gate|NAND gates]], [[Processor register|Bit Registers]] etc. and were housed in a DDP-24 S-Bloc card rack.<ref>[http://www.p3oriontopsecret.com/3c-computer-control-company-ddp-24-card-rack.html 3C Computer Control Company DDP-24 Card Rack circa 1964]</ref> An early [[Raster graphics|raster-scan graphics]] display was developed for the computer system.<ref>Noll, A. Michael, "Scanned-Display Computer Graphics," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 14, No. 3, (March 1971), pp. 145-150.</ref>
== External links & Bibliography ==
* [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computerControlCompany/ddp-24/DDP-24_InstructionMan_Aug64.pdf DDP-24 Instruction Manual, August 64, PDF]
* [http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-c.html#CCC-DDP-24 BRL REPORT NO. 1227 JANUARY 1964]
* [http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/AdamsReport1967Q4-1968Q1.pdf Adams Report 1967, PDF]
* {{cite web|url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2012/06/102658256-05-01-acc.pdf|title=Oral History of John William (Bill) Poduska}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
<!--- [[Category:Personal computers]] ?This was not a PC! not back then. See famous Ken Olson quote! -->
[[Category:Minicomputers]]
[[Category:24-bit computers]]