---
title: "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC"
authors:
  - "John von Neumann"
year: 1945
venue: "Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania"
arxiv: null
doi: "10.5479/sil.538961.39088011475779"
source: "https://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/edvac.pdf"
topics:
  - stored-program
  - edvac
  - von-neumann-architecture
  - computer-architecture
seed_rank: 542
seed_batch: "foundations-greats-2026-08-13"
reviewed: "2026-08-13"
pool: "systems"
relevance_score: 10
lineage: foundations-of-computing
cites:
  - title: "Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument"
    url: "https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/library/pdfs/ecp.preliminarydiscussion.pdf"
    year: 1946
    arxiv: null
    doi: null
  - title: "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478259"
    year: 1943
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1007/BF02478259"
  - title: "Proposal for Development in the Mathematics Division of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE)"
    url: "https://www.npl.co.uk/getattachment/ea5c6585-0929-4713-962c-2306f8dcf1f2/turing-proposal-Alan-LR.pdf?lang=en-US"
    year: 1946
    arxiv: null
    doi: null
  - title: "Planning and Coding of Problems for an Electronic Computing Instrument"
    url: "https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/library/pdfs/ecp/planningcodingof0103inst.pdf"
    year: 1947
    arxiv: null
    doi: null
  - title: "Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style?"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1145/359576.359579"
    year: 1978
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1145/359576.359579"
see:
  - "543-preliminary-discussion-of-the-logical-design-of-an-electroni"
  - "565-a-logical-calculus-of-the-ideas-immanent-in-nervous-activity"
  - "522-proposal-for-development-in-the-mathematics-division-of-an-a"
  - "544-planning-and-coding-of-problems-for-an-electronic-computing-"
  - "157-can-programming-be-liberated-from-the-von-neumann-style-a-fu"
---

# First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC

## One-sentence takeaway

Von Neumann's June 1945 draft puts program and data in one memory and names the logical organs of a stored-program computer: CA, CC, M, I, and O.

## Why it matters here

The architectural ontology behind almost every Anoptic runtime: instructions are just another column in memory. Backus's later revolt (card 157) only makes sense against this draft; ACE and the IAS machine are the two immediate engineering replies.

## Key ideas

- Circulated at the Moore School; von Neumann is sole author of the text that spread, though the ideas were collaborative with Eckert, Mauchly, and the EDVAC team.
- Logical organs: central arithmetic (CA), central control (CC), memory (M), input (I), output (O).
- Gates are discussed in McCulloch–Pitts neural language—neurons as switching elements.
- Stored-program concept: the same memory holds numbers and the coded orders that operate on them.

## Caveats

## Links

- MIT scan: https://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/edvac.pdf
- Smithsonian DOI: [10.5479/sil.538961.39088011475779](https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.538961.39088011475779)