n.

1. The alphabet. Often used in the plural: learned her ABCs when she was three years old.
2. The rudiments of reading and writing. Often used in the plural.
3. The rudiments of a subject. Often used in the plural: taught the ABCs of geometry.

(Atanasoff-Berry Computer) The first electronic digital computer. Completed in 1942 by Iowa State Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry, it employed many of the principles of all future computers. For example, although physically in the form of rotating drums, its memory used capacitors that were constantly being recharged like today's dynamic RAM.

It used a standard IBM card reader for input and an odometer-like device for output. For interim storage, Atanasoff devised a base-2 punch and reader that could very quickly store 1,500 bits on paper sheets by electrostatically burning holes in them. The ABC could solve 29 linear equations with 29 unknowns in one 24-hour day, a marvel for its time.

It Took Years for Recognition

John Mauchly, cobuilder of the ENIAC, began corresponding with Atanasoff in 1940 and visited him in 1941. Although Eckert and Mauchly's machine gained international attention, the ABC was recognized years later. A 1973 court overturned an ENIAC patent, stating that the basic ideas of the modern computer came from Atanasoff. In 1990, 87-year-old Atanasoff was awarded the National Medal of Technology. Four years later, an Iowa State University team started to build a replica of the ABC. It took three years to complete, but worked exactly as it was supposed to.

Old and New

At the top, Clifford Berry stands at the real ABC, circa 1942. Below, John Erickson, one of the reconstruction team members, puts a card into the working replica completed in 1997, more than a half century later.

ABC Components

This shows all the components of the ABC machine.

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1. aspiration biopsy cytology.
2. airway, breathing, circulation. See cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the elementary stages of any subject (usually plural)
  Synonyms: rudiment, first rudiment, first principle, alphabet, ABC's, ABCs

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - abc, alfabetet, abc-bog

Nederlands (Dutch)
abc, alfabet, eerste beginselen, alfabetische gids

Français (French)
n. - alphabet

Deutsch (German)
n. - ABC

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αλφάβητο, στοιχειώδεις γνώσεις, αλφαβητικός οδηγός

Italiano (Italian)
abici, alfabeto, abbecedario, ABC

Português (Portuguese)
n. - ABC (m)

Русский (Russian)
алфавит, букварь

Español (Spanish)
n. - abecedario, abecé

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ABC, alfabet

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
基础知识, 美国广播公司, 澳大利亚广播公司, 字母, 入门

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 基礎知識, 美國廣播公司, 澳大利亞廣播公司, 字母, 入門

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 초보, ABC순으로 된 여행 안내서

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - エービーシー, 初歩, 入門

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألحروف الأبجديه, مبدأ علم أو موضوع ما‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮האלפבית, עקרונות, יסודות‬

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abc	abc commodity
Abc Distrubuting	abc soaps