If Charles Babbage had managed to finish and mass produce the difference engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage
How would things be now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage
How would things be now?
If Charles Babbage had managed to finish and mass produce the difference engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage
How would things be now?
If the Difference Engine was finished, it was placed into early factories, even smaller ones, shopping tills etc... then surely that would have started to generate a work force to support these machines, early programmers of sorts etc...
I've got a novel idea where the Babbage Engines are built and exported to both France and the Confederacy.
The Confederacy uses its computing power to more efficiently organize its armies and govern and manages to successfully secede, but degenerates into a semi-fascist state verging on complete collapse within 50 or so years. Steampunk-style air piracy takes place in the border zones--the Indian territory, the SW, Arkansas, etc.
The French use it for the same purpose and defeat the Germans in 1871. There's a North Germany and an alliance of south German states friendly to France as a result.
WWI will happen and when it does, there will be airships.
Why do you assume that France and the Confederacy would be better than Germany and the USA at utilizing Babbage engines? That seems completely ass-backwards to me. And I'm not even touching the airships thing.
Why do you assume that France and the Confederacy would be better than Germany and the USA at utilizing Babbage engines? That seems completely ass-backwards to me. And I'm not even touching the airships thing.
It's a joke.
You, sir, have been Stirtledoved.
When did codes become national security obsessions? That'd be the obvious use (especially given the expense).
It's a joke.
You, sir, have been Stirtledoved.
Actually, it is part of the timeline for my book (which I haven't yet started writing).
ok, but what about first incorporating these into the banking systems? Then maybe after 10-15 years of usage, you will have a kind of computer programming job, this will only then fuel the need and want for smaller or more compact versions of the machine.
As you can tell, Merry never jokes.
But you fail to answer the question, what would they be used for?
IOTL, computers developed as calculators for aerospace applications, calculating missile dimensions and speed, and later guidances. The Apollo Program provided an incentive to shrink them down considerably, as did USAF and Red Air Force demand for guided missiles.
But ITTL, what is the incentive to develop the difference engine and use it in industrial applications?