History of Computing Hardware

 – The First Programmer & The Father of the  Computer

Ada Lovelace

(Science & Society Picture Library)

Age: 

• 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852
• 36 years old

Identity: An English mathematician and writer

Nationality: British

Known for: 

• First computer programmer
• Her contribution on the Analytical Engine which was Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer

Fields: Mathematics & Computer Science

Charles Babbage

(Charles Babbage)

Age:

• (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871)
• 79 years old

Identity:

• An English polymath
• A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer

Known for: 

• Father of the computer
• Difference Engine
• Analytical Engine

Nationality: British

Fields: Mathematics, engineering, political economy, computer science

Timeline

1.Difference Machines

In 1822 Babbage began working on inventing the difference engine.

A part of Charles Babbage’s difference engine (#1)

(Creative Commons)

Although Babbage’s difference machines were unwieldy, they were mechanical, their basic architectures were similar to modern computers. (Gleick)

General Functions of Babbage’s difference machines (#1):

• Date and program were separated
• Instruction-based Operation
• Conditional jumps with control unit
• Separate input/output unit (Gleick)

Although Babbage received ample fund for inventing difference engine, this project was never completed. This first difference engine would have been composed of around 25,000 parts, weigh 13,600 kg, and 2.4 m tall.

During 1847 to 1849, Baggage provided detailed drawing of a improved version of difference engine, and the improved version were known as difference engine #2. However, Baggage did not received any fund for making difference engine #2 from British government. Thus, the project was ended. (“BBC News | SCI/TECH | Babbage Printer Finally Runs”)

2. Analytical Engine

After Babbage’s attempt on making difference engine failed, he started to work on designing a complex machine called The Analytical Engine.

Analytical Engine was programmed by using punched cards. The Engine used the loops of Jacquard’s punched cards to control a mechanical calculator. (“The Babbage Engine | Babbage Engine | Computer History Museum”)

Functions of Analytical Engine:

• Sequential control
• Branching
• Looping

Ada Lovelace helped Charles Babbage during the development stage of the Analytical Engine. She calculated a sequence of Bernoulli numbers as an algorithm for the Analytical Engine. (“The French Connection | Chemical Heritage Foundation”)

Babbage visited Turin in 1840 and gave several speeches (Lindgren).

Charles Menabrea wrote Babbage’s lecture in French. Ada Lovelace was commissioned to translate Menabrea’s paper into English. While translating, she put some notes in the paper as well. Therefore, these notes became more extensive than Menabrea’s paper. Later on, Ada Lovelace’s translation was published in Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs under the initialism AAL. (Hammerman and Russell)

In 1953 Ada Lovelace’s notes were republished. The engine has now been recognised as an early model for a computer and her notes as a description of a computer and software. (Hammerman and Russell)

Works Cited

“BBC News | SCI/TECH | Babbage Printer Finally Runs”. News.bbc.co.uk. N.p., 2000. Web. 11

          Sept. 2016.

Charles Babbage. 1860. Print.

Creative Commons,. Babbagedifferenceengine. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

Gleick, James. The Information. New York: Pantheon Books, 2011. Print.

Hammerman, Robin and Andrew L Russell. Ada’s Legacy. Print.

Lindgren, Michael. Glory And Failure. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990. Print.

Science & Society Picture Library,. Watercolor Portrait Of Ada King, Countess Of Lovelace. 1840.

          Web. 16 Sept. 2016.

“The Babbage Engine | Babbage Engine | Computer History Museum”. Computerhistory.org.

N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

“The French Connection | Chemical Heritage Foundation”. Chemheritage.org. N.p., 2016.

Web. 11 Sept. 2016.