< computer > A computer that represents numbers and other data using discrete internal states, in contrast to the continuously varying quantities used in an analog computer .
Some of the fundamental ideas behind the digital computer were proposed by Alan Turing between 1936 and 1938. The design of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1937-1942) included some of the important implementation details but the first digital computer to successfully run real programs was the Z3 (1941). ENIAC (1943-1946) was the first electronic digital computer but was only programmable by manual rewiring or switches.
(2003-10-01)