Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:28:30 +0200 (CEST) From: Oliver Fromme <olli@lurza.secnetix.de> To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Where software meets hardware.. Message-ID: <200706211828.l5LISUJM001647@lurza.secnetix.de> In-Reply-To: <20070621171905.GC19491@graf.pompo.net>
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Thierry Thomas wrote: > Oliver Fromme wrote: > > > > I have a cousin who's taking up a programming course. He doesn't have > > > background with programming nor an in depth understanding of how the > > > computer works. I tried explaining him that it all started with > > > abacus, and that people wanted to use something that could make their > > > arithmetic life easier and that Charles Babbage tried automating this > > > manual calculator with his steam engine or some sort... and that... > > > > Actually Charles Babbage designed a complex mechanical > > computing machine (with lots of gearwheels etc.), but > > it only ever existed on paper. Only small parts of it > > have actually been built, but never the whole thing, > > because it was too complex. It would work in theory, > > though. :-) > > Pascal built such a machine: > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_calculator>. That's a quite different one. Pascal's Calculator was a rather simple mechanical calculator that could only add and subtract numbers. Once the design was finished, it was quite easy to actually build it. I wouldn't call it a "computer". The Machine that Charles Babbage designed almost 200 years later was meant to tabulate polynomial functions, and it was _much_ more complex. It was a beast consisting of 25,000 connected gearwheels. And that was only his first design; it was followed by even more complex ones. In fact it is true that his last design of an "analytical engine" (the first programmable computer ever, though never actually built) was intended to be powered by a steam engine, so the OP was right. :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_babbage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_engine Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd I suggested holding a "Python Object Oriented Programming Seminar", but the acronym was unpopular. -- Joseph Strout
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