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Maybe the modern computer. The idea of a digital computer predates the lightbulb by about 100 years including the power of software was already conceived by Bab
by karmakaze 3y ago
Maybe the modern computer. The idea of a digital computer predates the lightbulb by about 100 years including the power of software was already conceived by Babbage and Lovelace.
- viraptor 3y agoThat's really surprising! I never realised those inventions were so close - Babbage's analytical engine came in 1837, the first constant electric light in 1835.
- sidewndr46 3y agoI think it is a misunderstanding to conflate modern computers with "digital". You can build a mechanical, digital computer from many systems like pneumatics for example. Interestingly the first practical electronic computers aren't actually digital, they used tech like op-amps to do computation.
- karmakaze 3y agoBabbage's machine is a programmable one of digital mechanical form. Modern is being used to distinguish electrical ones.
- masklinn 3y ago> You can build a mechanical, digital computer from many systems like pneumatics for example. This is mentioned in the video (kinda), in that the video talks about Stibitz’ Model K, an electromechanical digital adder using relays, followed by various systems culminating in the programmable general-purpose Model V. As the video then explains, ignoring nuisance (noise and vibrations) the problems of mechanical computers are signal propagation, and wear / reliability, they’re awful even compared to vacuum tubes.
- dreamcompiler 3y agoAnalog computers still exist but they are neither general-purpose nor easily programmable. Their big strength is solving differential equations, which they do better than digital computers in some cases. General-purpose reprogrammability is the key advance of modern computers. Although it can be argued that Babbage and Lovelace had this idea in mind, they never built a complete working model.