---
title: "Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument"
authors:
  - "Arthur W. Burks"
  - "Herman H. Goldstine"
  - "John von Neumann"
year: 1946
venue: "Institute for Advanced Study report"
arxiv: null
doi: null
source: "https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/library/pdfs/ecp.preliminarydiscussion.pdf"
topics:
  - ias-machine
  - stored-program
  - von-neumann-architecture
  - computer-architecture
seed_rank: 543
seed_batch: "foundations-greats-2026-08-13"
reviewed: "2026-08-13"
pool: "systems"
relevance_score: 10
lineage: foundations-of-computing
cites:
  - title: "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC"
    url: "https://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/edvac.pdf"
    year: 1945
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.5479/sil.538961.39088011475779"
  - 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: "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: "The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer"
    url: "https://archive.org/details/preparationofpro00wilk"
    year: 1951
    arxiv: null
    doi: null
see:
  - "542-first-draft-of-a-report-on-the-edvac"
  - "544-planning-and-coding-of-problems-for-an-electronic-computing-"
  - "522-proposal-for-development-in-the-mathematics-division-of-an-a"
  - "572-the-preparation-of-programs-for-an-electronic-digital-comput"
---

# Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument

## One-sentence takeaway

Burks, Goldstine, and von Neumann specify the IAS machine: parallel bit-arithmetic, a 40-bit word, and an instruction set that later CPUs copied worldwide.

## Why it matters here

More implementable than the EDVAC draft. Anoptic's CPU-side story (word formats, organs, a code one can actually write) starts here; Part II of the same series is the flow-diagram coding manual (card 544).

## Key ideas

- Dated 28 June 1946; Part I of the IAS Electronic Computer Project report sequence.
- Memory word formats, a compact order code, and a parallel arithmetic organ rather than EDVAC's serial bit stream.
- Clearer separation of organs than the 1945 draft, aimed at a machine that could be built at Princeton and cloned (MANIAC, ILLIAC, JOHNNIAC, …).
- Explicitly the companion to the later *Planning and Coding* volumes.

## Caveats

## Links

- IAS PDF: https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/library/pdfs/ecp.preliminarydiscussion.pdf