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Babbage and Lovelace

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Submitted By ediamonds2001
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Although computers and computer programs are now an everyday thing in our society they were thought of and created way before our time. The inventors of these amazing devices and programs were way ahead of their time (in my opinion) and made significant strides in helping us get to where we as a society are today in relation to the computing science. Two of these people are Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was many things, a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer. To be just one of those is impressive enough however when combining these fields Babbage was able to introduce the world to the idea of a mechanical computer. Babbage understood that by processing math calculations by hand there was much room for error in calculation and documentation. He determined that mechanical machines would present an opportunity to be not only more accurate but also less labor intensive. Babbage was responsible for designing two separate mechanical computers, The Difference Engine and The Analytical Engine. The Difference Engine was the precursor to the more advanced Analytical Engine. The Difference Engine was capable of processing polynomial functions (advanced math) which avoided the need for multiplication or division. While the Analytical Machine was more advanced and programmable through the use of punch cards. The punch cards would feed data to the machine essentially programming it to run a calculation. Due to financial restraints on his first project and death during his second project neither machine ever saw completion in his time. Both machines were never completed by Babbage himself and have been constructed by third parties using his designs. Babbage was able to construct one seventh of the first Difference Engine himself which functioned perfectly. So although he wasn’t able to complete his work we still know that these first machines were capable of computing information. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was a mathematician and writer who is most widely known for her work with Charles Babbage on the Analytical Engine. In 1833, after meeting at a party, Babbage showed Ada a small working portion of the Difference Engine. Having a math background and understanding the potential of this machine Ada was very interested in working with Babbage. Several years later, after being married, Ada wrote to Babbage about continuing her work in mathematics with him as a teacher. Babbage accepted and tasked her with the translation of a paper (from French to English) explaining the function ad theory of the Analytical Engine. Being a mathematician and writer before meeting Babbage, Ada wrote the translation including her own notes, thoughts, and ideas which enhanced the paper three fold and increased its quality exponentially. In reviewing this document it is very apparent that, like Babbage, Lovelace was also ahead of her time. She describes in the notes a step by step sequence in how to solve mathematical equations and suggests other uses for the machines such as creating music. These mathematical sequences are now considered a program and makes Ada Lovelace the first computer programmer of our time. So as you can see both parties were heavily involved in the growth or even invention of Computer Science. Babbage creating several simple computers and Ada developing the first computer program. With both having a mathematical background it easy to understand why they not only worked together but were successful. Math is a basic building block of computer science and without that knowledge it is unlikely that either of these people would have accomplished these achievements. Finally by working so closely together Ada was able to theorize and prove how advanced these machines were and could be. We quit possibly might not have had computers we know them as today without their work.

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