Analytical Engine

The Analytical Engine, proposed and extensively prototyped, but never competed, by Charles Babbage was an advanced computing device, the first programmable (and thus necessarily general-purpose) computing device ever. It was entirely digital, but all mechanical; prototyping began in the 1860's. Its program was fixed, and stored on punched cards.

Further reading

• L. F. Menabrea, Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq. - not the most comprehensible description, but the only record of Babbage's only attempt to publicly describe the high-level goals of the Analytical Engine work; very famous, in part because of the following 'Notes'
  • Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, Notes by the Translator - extensive (over twice the length of the original!) technical notes to the above by Lady Ada, based on her private discussions with Babbage
• Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq. - scan of the original 1843 publication
• Philip and Emily Morrison, Charles Babbage and his Calculating Engines, Dover Publications, New York, 1961 - also contains reprints of other material
• Bruce Collier, The Little Engines that Could've: The Calculating Machines of Charles Babbage, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1970 - includes a good description of the machines

External links

• Plan 28 Blog - a group of people, led by Doron Swade, planning to build an Analytical Engine