How would the creation of a programable mechanical computer before 1830 have changed the face of modern computing?
http://http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage
http://http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage
The difference engine Babbage proposed would have been about the size of a barn, with a memory of about 1Mb.
Babbage's difference engine, if completed, wouldn't have had any major impact on the world whatsoever.
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What if the British government had developed a mechanical computer to target the guns on their warships? What if some of the great physicists/universities wanted one to help with advanced mathematical calculations?
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Originally Posted by Kingdom
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What if the British government had developed a mechanical computer to target the guns on their warships? What if some of the great physicists/universities wanted one to help with advanced mathematical calculations?
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Uh, in 1830 ? Have you ever looked at an 1830 cannon. Good luck with hooking that up to a computer. As to the physicists, they were still grappling with Napier's Bones.
It would make very little difference , because it was too soon for its time. Clerks were cheap, analytic engines expensive. At most, more reliable sailing instructions might have prevented a few ships being lost.
It's not a computer the way that you think 'computer'. In fact, it's actually just a huge abacus, really.
Precise computations are important for astronomy--perhaps a significantly increased concern for the asteroids and comets after 1876
What is your timeline called?
I don't know the significance of 1876 but I do know the British were very interested in astronomy in Victorian times, not sure if that interest survived that long though.
All artillery fire was direct, and with smoothbore cannon.