The Analytical Engine was a mechanical general purpose calculating machine designed by Charles Babbage beginning in 1837, with a separate store for numbers and a mill for arithmetic anticipating a computer's memory and processor. It was never built in Babbage's lifetime, for want of funding and precision manufacturing, but Ada Lovelace's 1843 translated notes on it, three times longer than the paper they annotated, included what is recognized as the first published algorithm written for any computing machine.
Facts
Patent or First-Use DateBabbage's design was first described/proposed in 1837; the Analytical Engine was never built in his lifetime and was never patented. SignificanceThough never built, the Analytical Engine's architecture, a store and a mill exchanging data under conditional program control, is recognized as the conceptual ancestor of the modern computer, and Ada Lovelace's notes on it are recognized as the first published computer program. 2 Connections
Associated With
Ada Lovelace, Engineers Lovelace's 1843 translated notes on the Analytical Engine, three times longer than the paper they annotated, included what is recognized as the first published algorithm written for any computing machine.
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In Field
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Invented By
Ada Lovelace, Engineers Her 1843 translated notes on Charles Babbage's unbuilt design, three times longer than the paper they annotated, included what is recognized as the first published algorithm written for any computing machine.
Source Analytical Engine (Wikipedia)
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Preceded By
Charles Babbage explicitly modeled the Analytical Engine's punched-card input on Jacquard's loom.
Source Jacquard Machine (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Predecessor Of
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Sources
1. Analytical Engine (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a design for a simpler mechanical calculator.
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source Jacquard Machine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationPreceded By: The Jacquard LoomView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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