The
Analytical Engine, designed by Charles Babbage between 1833 and 1846,
anticipated many features of electronic computing devices invented in
the 1940s and 1950s. Although mechanical in all its operations, the
Analytical Engine could carry out calculations of arbitrary complexity
under the control of punched cards. Conditional branching was possible,
and Babbage had prepared test programs that included elaborate
calculations based on nested loop structures. In a beautiful
anticipation of twentieth-century thinking, Babbage showed that, given
sufficient time, any finite calculation could be carried out by the
Analytical Engine.
Chapter : Introduction to Computer
- Computer Fundamental
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