World's oldest working computer gets fired up

Even it mentioned as "the world's oldest working computer" but it is not the oldest computing device but it is regarded as the first modern computer because it is still capable of working. The visitors can now check Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell, or WITCH in Buckingham-shire, England has 3-ton weight and it lights up the National Museum of Computing with its flashing bulbs and chattering printers.

The WITCH at Wolverhampton -- with serious tape readers.

(Credit: Photo courtesy of Express & Star via The National Museum of Computing)

 It seems crazy to think of a computer as a room-sized mechanism for the modern people using smaller, thinner, and lighter devices but it was first used in 1951 for atomic research. Its Architecture design was based on reliability rather than speed and meant to solve algorithms at roughly the same speed as a single human mathematician using a mechanical calculator and could work for days on end without an error, according to the museum. WITCH is on display at the museum alongside the Colossus Mark II, which is the world's first electronic computer.

from CNET - Original News Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57552873-93/worlds-oldest-working-computer-gets-fired-up/