It is a basic mechanical computer.
Babbage dreamed however of more complicated machines. In fact, he did not only dream; he began to design them. The result was a series of "analytical engines" which were in fact powerful computers!
His designs contained processors (he called them "mills"), control units, a memory (he called it a store), and an input/output system. These are the four essential parts of a modern mathematical computer!
Alas, Babbage was born 100 years too soon! His "second difference engine" could not use electricity, since this had not yet become a usable source of power; so Babbage had to make do with mechanical systems. For this reason, the machine was big and very complicated, and very expensive. Though Babbage produced complete plans for the machine, he could not build it. It was too sophisticated for its age! It was not until almost 160 years later that Babbage's "second difference engine" was finally manufactured. The first working version of this machine was built by the Science Museum in London, for the Babbage bicentenary in 1991. It can now be seen at the Museum; a second machine was then built for an American high-tech millionnaire, who put it in the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View,California. Babbage's analytical engines could have used "programmes" like those used in the textile industry to make complicated patterns; but they were never built. This brilliant mathematician really was too far ahead of his time!
Explain:
Can you explain, in English, the following words and expressions?
