The Association for Computing Machinery

Abstract

As the Association for Computing Machinery enters a new phase of its existence, it seems befitting to review, briefly, the conditions in the computing field just prior to its organization and the events of the past six years of its life. Since its formation, in 1947, the Association has adhered to the originally established policy of informality. That is, meetings and discussions were encouraged and information was generally put out in mimeographed form and more formal publications were discouraged. The function of the organization was to maintain a mailing list of members paying only such dues as were necessary to cover the cost of printing or mimeographing and mailing. Such an organization served its purpose excellently, but times have changed. Prior to the formation of the Association, the automatic computing field, as such, hardly existed. Probably the first meeting of those interested in the field was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945. The occasion was to introduce the differential analyzer, designed by Dr. Vannevar Bush and Dr. Samuel H. Caldwell, to the public. This machine is a refinement of the original machine built by Dr. Bush in 1925. The earlier machine served as a pattern for several machines. © 1954, ACM. All rights reserved.