[squeak-dev] The Old Man
Andres Valloud
AVALLOUD at roadrunner.com
Mon Mar 31 03:41:32 UTC 2008
The printer also worked...
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/710950.stm>
Andres.
Andres Valloud wrote:
> Hello...
>
> I can't help the feeling that this is derogatory of the work of
> Babbage on the grounds that he never completed anything. I thought
> that without knowing the specifics, it's easy to dismiss the fact that
> Babbage was trying to do what had not been achieved before. Moreover,
> I think it is just as easy to miss the fact that we enjoy about 150
> years of efficiencies gained in our work processes that were not
> available at his time.
>
> I suspected there was something wrong here, particularly from what I
> had studied about history of mathematics, so I did a little research.
> From Wikipedia, we find out the following...
>
> "*Charles Babbage* FRS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society>
> (26 December <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_26> 1791
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1791> London
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London>, England
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England> – 18 October
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_18> 1871
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1871> Marylebone
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylebone>, London
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London>, England
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England> ^[1]
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage#cite_note-0> ) was an
> English <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England> mathematician
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematician>, philosopher
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher>, and mechanical engineer
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_engineer> who originated the
> idea of a programmable computer
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer>. Parts of his uncompleted
> mechanisms are on display in the London Science Museum
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Science_Museum>. In 1991 a
> perfectly functioning difference engine
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine> was constructed from
> Babbage's original plans. Built to tolerances achievable in the 19th
> century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage's
> machine would have worked. Nine years later, the Science Museum
> completed the printer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_printer>
> Babbage had designed for the difference engine, an astonishingly
> complex device for the 19th century. Babbage is credited with
> inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more
> complex designs."
>
> In particular,
>
> "In 1991 a perfectly functioning difference engine
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine> was constructed from
> Babbage's original plans. Built to tolerances achievable in the 19th
> century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage's
> machine would have worked."
>
> Really?...
>
> But it gets better. Furthermore,
>
> "Soon after the attempt at making the difference engine crumbled,
> Babbage started designing a different, more complex machine called the
> Analytical Engine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine>.
> The engine is not a single physical machine but a succession of
> designs that he tinkered with until his death in 1871. The main
> difference between the two engines is that the Analytical Engine could
> be programmed using punch cards
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_cards>, an idea unheard of in his
> time. He realized that programs could be put on similar cards so the
> person had to only create the program initially, and then put the
> cards in the machine and let it run. The analytical engine was also
> proposed to use loops of Jacquard
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom>'s punched cards to
> control a mechanical calculator, which could formulate results based
> on the results of preceding computations. This machine was also
> intended to employ several features subsequently used in modern
> computers, including sequential control, branching, and looping, and
> would have been the first mechanical device to be Turing-complete
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing-complete>."
>
> From this, it would appear to be that Lord Moulton missed the point.
> I wouldn't blame him for that.
>
> Andres.
>
> PS: either the 1870 or 1880 US census was the first one done with the
> assistance of punched cards. IIRC, it was the 1880 one.
>
>
> Marcus Denker wrote:
>>
>> "One of the sad memories of my life is a visit to the celebrated
>> mathematician and inventor, Mr Babbage. He was far advanced in age,
>> but his mind was still as vigorous as ever. He took me through his
>> work-rooms. In the first room I saw parts of the original Calculating
>> Machine, which had been shown in an incomplete state many years
>> before and had even been put to some use. I asked him about its
>> present form. 'I have not finished it because in working at it I came
>> on the idea of my Analytical Machine, which would do all that it was
>> capable of doing and much more. Indeed, the idea was so much simpler
>> that it would have taken more work to complete the Calculating
>> Machine than to design and construct the other in its entirety, so I
>> turned my attention to the Analytical Machine.'"
>>
>> "After a few minutes' talk, we went into the next work-room, where he
>> showed and explained to me the working of the elements of the
>> Analytical Machine. I asked if I could see it. 'I have never
>> completed it,' he said, 'because I hit upon an idea of doing the same
>> thing by a different and far more effective method, and this rendered
>> it useless to proceed on the old lines.' Then we went into the third
>> room. There lay scattered bits of mechanism, but I saw no trace of
>> any working machine. Very cautiously I approached the subject, and
>> received the dreaded answer, 'It is not constructed yet, but I am
>> working on it, and it will take less time to construct it altogether
>> than it would have token to complete the Analytical Machine from the
>> stage in which I left it.' I took leave of the old man with a heavy
>> heart."
>>
>>
>> -- Lord Moulton
>> --
>> Marcus Denker -- denker at iam.unibe.ch
>> http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~denker
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
More information about the Squeak-dev
mailing list
|