Re: The joy of Ada

On 9/27/24 7:02 AM, Andy Walker wrote:

On 27/09/2024 07:52, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

[...] Imagine that Charles Babbage hadn’t completely failed at
building his Analytical Engine. (Only it was called the “Difference
Engine”, for some inexplicable reason.)

 
     The Difference Engine was a completely different project.  It
     was
called the Difference Engine because it was meant to calculate
differences*,
which were the principal tools in numerical mathematics for the
calculation of values of functions [sine, cosine, sqrt, log, ...].  In
the days before computers, tables of such values were an essential part
of the engineer's [or physicist's or statistician's] toolkit and was
what mathematicians often spent their entire careers providing and
checking.  It was tedious work,
so was ripe for automation.
 
     Babbage is remembered today for little more than these
     projects, but
he did much more than that.  His Wiki article is worth reading, if only
to learn the breadth of his interests and contributions.

 
 
   Babbage really was a gifted engineer and maths guy, he had enough rep
   to get the govt to front him rather a lot of money to build the
   difference engine.
 
   Apparently costs-analysis was NOT one of his best skills alas. The
   machine is devilishly complicated and was at the cutting edge of
   mechanical techniques and precision at that time.
 
   I think some MIT people finally *built* one, or a substantial part of
   one. I've seen a vid, all the brass clockwork is hypnotic to watch.