It's also fun to imagine this happening in e.g. the 1860s instead of the 1930s/1940s. I believe the tech was there (because of telegraphs), the production of relays just wasn't industrialized yet, so everything would be larger, handmade and more expensive.
E.g. Z1 was running at 1Hz, Z2 at 5Hz and Z3 at 5..10Hz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer)
> In 1837, American scientist and teacher Joseph Henry took his first tour of Europe. During his visit to London, he made a point of visiting a man he greatly admired, the mathematician Charles Babbage. Accompanying Henry were his friend Alexander Bache, and his new acquaintance and fellow experimenter in telegraphy, Charles Wheatstone. Babbage told his visitors of his upcoming appointment to demonstrate a calculating machine to a member of Parliament, but was even more excited to show them his plans for another machine, “which will far transcend the powers of the first…” Henry recorded the outlines of Babbage’s plan in his diary.
So close! Henry made the electromagnet practical. Babbage "originated the concept of a digital programmable computer" as per Wikipedia.
No there isn't. That "debate" is about who wrote the first program for the Analytical Engine (which I didn't mention).
However, Lovelace's article on the Analytical Engine did not just expand it by demonstrating a programming language. It included physical differences to Babbage's - and this is because she didn't just sit and watch, she assisted on the design of the machine itself.
> Again, it might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine. Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.
Making insulated wire was really hard. Before plastics, wire insulation was varnish or fabric. I restore old Teletypes as a hobby. The oldest one I have working is from about 1926. All the wiring insulation had decayed and had to be replaced. Reliable wire is surprisingly modern. Reliable rubber (neoprene) is only from WWII. Plastics are even later.
[1] https://www.census.gov/about/history/bureau-history/census-i...
Fair point. This would probably have made the 1860 relay computer another 2x more expensive.
Rochus•4mo ago