<P> Stored - program computer is sometimes used as a synonym for von Neumann architecture, however Professor Jack Copeland considers that it is "historically inappropriate, to refer to electronic stored - program digital computers as' von Neumann machines"'. Hennessy and Patterson write that the early Harvard machines were regarded as "reactionary by the advocates of stored - program computers". </P> <P> The stored - program computer idea can be traced back to the 1936 theoretical concept of a universal Turing machine . Von Neumann was aware of this paper, and he impressed it on his collaborators as well . </P> <P> Many early computers, such as the Atanasoff--Berry computer, were not reprogrammable . They executed a single hardwired program . As there were no program instructions, no program storage was necessary . Other computers, though programmable, stored their programs on punched tape, which was physically fed into the machine as needed . </P> <P> In 1936 Konrad Zuse anticipated in two patent applications that machine instructions could be stored in the same storage used for data . </P>

Why are modern digital computer often referred to as stored program digital computer