This NYTimes article talks about an effort by the British to build a working model of Charles Babbage's Analytic Engine, a device described by Babbage in the 1830's and which could be argued to be the world's first programmable computer (in concept).
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I thought they already built this.
They built his "Decision Engine"... this is something else.
One would think (or at least, I think) that the names should be switched: "Decision Engine" implies that the machine is making decisions, as his proposed Analytical Engine (apparently Turing-complete?) does. Likewise, "Analytical Engine" seems more fitting for a machine that essentially does calculus.
EDIT: Wait, nevermind. The machine that actually got built was called the "Difference Engine". That name fits a lot better to me.
Oops, my mistake, I knew it started with a 'D'.
I think the assumption I made is more due to the fact that they had tested Ada Lovelace's program that she had written for the Analytic Engine. I thought they had done a full-blown test on an actual Analytic Engine, but I guess they just proved it would work in theory. Also, now looking at Ada's Wikipedia entry, the final clause in this statement still would have thrown me off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace#First_.22computer_program.22
I assume it was valid? Do you have a source?Quote:
Originally Posted by SlyMaelstrom
I found the actual paper she translated. The "program" she wrote would be in her notes, see here. You'll have to answer your questions yourself, really.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yarin