Re: Where software meets hardware..


Le Jeu 21 jui 07 14:33:56 +0200, Oliver Fromme <olli@lurza.secnetix.de>
 嶰rivaitꀺ

>  > I have a cousin who's taking up a programming course. He doesn't have
>  > background with programming nor an in depth understanding of how the
>  > computer works.  I tried explaining him that it all started with
>  > abacus, and that people wanted to use something that could make their
>  > arithmetic life easier and that Charles Babbage tried automating this
>  > manual calculator with his steam engine or some sort... and that...
> 
> Actually Charles Babbage designed a complex mechanical
> computing machine (with lots of gearwheels etc.), but
> it only ever existed on paper.  Only small parts of it
> have actually been built, but never the whole thing,
> because it was too complex.  It would work in theory,
> though.  :-)

Pascal built such a machine:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_calculator>.
-- 
Th. Thomas.
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