The document discusses the history and development of early computers. It describes ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer built in 1946. ENIAC was used for ballistics calculations during World War II. The document then covers the development of stored-program concept by John von Neumann and others. This led to the design of IAS computer in 1952, which had memory to store both data and instructions and is considered the first modern computer architecture. The document also provides details on the architecture of IAS computer and how its instruction cycle worked.