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Friday, October 15, 2010

Charles Babbage's Early Computer May Finally Be Built

Or as he called an 'Analytical Machine'

In 1837, Charles Babbage designed an early computer. He called it the Analytical Engine. Unfortunately, Babbage died before he could build it. But there’s a campaign underway to make one using the original blueprints:
Elements of the engine have been built over the last 173 years, but this would be the first complete working model of the machine.
“It’s an inspirational piece of equipment,” said Mr Graham-Cumming, author of the Geek Atlas.
“A hundred years ago, before computers were available, Babbage had envisaged this machine.
“What you realize when you read Babbage’s papers is that this was the first real computer.
“It had expandable memory, a CPU, microcode, a printer, a plotter and was programmable with punch cards.
“It was the size of a small lorry and powered by steam but it was recognizable as a computer.”

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