Editing BARK (computer)

{{Short description|Early Swedish electromechanical computer}}
[[File:Conny Palm (6979247547).jpg|thumb|Conny Palm and BARK.]]

'''BARK''' ({{Langx|sv|Binär Aritmetisk (Automatisk) Relä-Kalkylator|lit=Binary Arithmetic (Automatic) Relay Calculator}}) was an early [[Electromechanics|electromechanical computer]] built in 1950. BARK was built using standard [[relay|telephone relay]]s, implementing a [[32-bit]] binary machine. It could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms. It had a memory with 50 [[Hardware register|registers]] and 100 constants. It was later expanded to double the memory. [[Howard Aiken]] stated in reference to BARK "This is the first computer I have seen outside Harvard that actually works."{{citation needed |date=April 2025 |reason=And when did he say that?}}

== History ==
BARK was developed by ''[[Matematikmaskinnämnden]]'' ([[Swedish Board for Computing Machinery]]) a few years before [[BESK]]. The machine was built with 8,000 standard telephone relays, 80&nbsp;km of cable and with 175,000 soldering points. Programming was done by [[plugboard]].{{sfn|Mathematics of Computation|1951|p=32|ps=: "No instructions are given to the machine from tapes or similar devices; all programs are physically realized by the plugged connections."}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K9_LsJBCqWMC&q=BARK+computer+1950&pg=PA129|title=A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming|last=Edwards|first=Paul N.|date=2010-03-12|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262290715|pages=129|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1950-01-01|title=12. Digital Computers in Sweden|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0694596|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311004157/http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0694596|url-status=live|archive-date=March 11, 2021|journal=Digital Computer Newsletter|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|pages=4}}</ref> It was completed in February 1950<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jCSpiVBH5W0C&q=bark&pg=PA350|title=The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann|last=Goldstine|first=Herman H.|date=2008-09-02|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400820139|pages=350|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395|title=A survey of automatic digital computers|last1=Research|first1=United States Office of Naval|date=1953|publisher=Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy|page=[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395/page/n13 8]|language=en}}</ref> at a cost of 400,000 [[Swedish krona|Swedish kronor]] (less than $100,000),<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1950-05-01|title=13. BARK Computer, Sweden|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0694597|journal=Digital Computer Newsletter|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|pages=4}}</ref> became operational on April 28, 1950, and was taken offline on September 22, 1954. The engineers on the team led by [[Conny Palm]] were Harry Freese, Gösta Neovius, Olle Karlqvist, Carl-Erik Fröberg, G. Kellberg, Björn Lind, Arne Lindberger, P. Petersson and Madeline Wallmark.

== See also ==
* [[BESK]] – Binär Elektronisk Sekvens-Kalkylator – Sweden's second computer.
* [[Elsa-Karin Boestad-Nilsson]], a programmer on BARK and BESK
* [[SMIL (computer)|SMIL]] – SifferMaskinen I Lund (The Number Machine in Lund)
* [[History of computing hardware]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* {{Cite journal|date=1951|title=Automatic Computing Machinery: Technical Developments - The BARK, A Swedish General Purpose Relay Computer|journal=Mathematics of Computation|language=en-US|volume=5|issue=33|pages=29–34|doi=10.1090/S0025-5718-51-99443-4|issn=0025-5718|ref={{harvid|Mathematics of Computation|1951}}|doi-access=free}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.treinno.se/pers/okq/index.htm Tekn. lic. Olle Karlqvist in memoriam] (in Swedish), [https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.treinno.se%2Fpers%2Fokq%2Findex.htm&edit-text= Google translation], memorial site of one of the engineers behind BARK and BESK. On BARK page there's a technical pdf document (in English): ''The BARK, A Swedish General Purpose Relay Computer''

[[Category:One-of-a-kind computers]]
[[Category:Electro-mechanical computers]]
[[Category:Science and technology in Sweden]]


{{compu-hardware-stub}}