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 programmed manually using switches and cables. The stored-program concept was developed around this time, allowing programs to be stored in memory. This led to the development of the IAS computer in 1952, considered the first modern computer. It had a stored-program architecture with memory to store both data and instructions. This became the standard von Neumann architecture used in most modern computers.