14 Oct
2010
14 Oct
'10
11 a.m.
Apparently Babbage was building the original machine
to automate figuring out logarithm tables for
engineering books at the time. It was all done by hand back then, and I guess there were
a lot of errors. That's what the difference engine was for. Then he thought about
adding feedback to the difference engine, and the first modern computer design was born
(the analytical engine, which is what this project wants to build.) Interesting stuff,
Babbage was *way* ahead of his time.
Indeed.
I recommend reading Swade's book, "The Cogwheel Brain" .... it's very
good.