Editing LEO (computer) (section)

== Design ==

LEO I's clock speed was 500&nbsp;kHz, with most instructions taking about 1.5&nbsp;ms to execute.<ref>[http://www.fcet.staffs.ac.uk/jdw1/sucfm/leo.htm The Staffordshire University Computing Futures Museum LEO Page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123202612/http://www.fcet.staffs.ac.uk/jdw1/sucfm/LEO.htm |date=23 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/worlds-first-business-computer-leo-turns-60-45618 World's First Business Computer, LEO, Turns 60], TechWeek Europe</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395 |title=A survey of automatic digital computers |author=Research, United States Office of Naval |year=1953 |publisher=Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy |page=[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395/page/n63 58]}}</ref> To be useful for business applications, the computer had to be able to handle a number of data streams, input and output, simultaneously. Therefore, its chief designer, [[John Pinkerton (computer designer)|John Pinkerton]], designed the machine to have multiple input/output [[Data buffer|buffers]]. In the first instance, these were linked to fast [[punched tape|paper tape]] readers and punches, fast punched [[Punched card input/output|card readers]] and punches, and a 100-line-per-minute tabulator. Later, other devices, including magnetic tape, were added. Its ultrasonic [[delay-line memory]] based on tanks of [[mercury (element)|mercury]], with 2K (2048) 35-bit words (i.e., 8{{frac|3|4}} [[kilobyte]]s), was four times as large as that of EDSAC. The systems analysis was carried out by [[David Caminer]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8879727/How-a-chain-of-tea-shops-kickstarted-the-computer-age.html |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |author-first=Christopher |author-last=Williams |title=How a chain of tea shops kickstarted the computer age |date=2011-11-10}}</ref>