Re: Books: The Difference Engine

[ziggy@panix.com]

[...]
> Imagine the 20th century digital revolution
> happening 100 years earlier with mechanical computers.

Imagine a world without Perl, where languages designed for punched
cards (FORTRAN/COBOL/etc.) rule the day.

[shivers]

> The premise is quite interesting and allows for lots of leeway, but
> it's quite an interesting idea.  What if...

FWIW, I think the idea for this book started shortly after that
Austrailian Professor (I wish I could remember his name) showed that
it is possible to [re]build Babbage's Difference Engine #2 using
techniques and materials that would have been used in Babbage's day.

This is the difference engine that is being rebuilt in the Science 
Museuum in Kensington, London.  IIRC, _The Difference Engine_ is
focused on Babbage's second design, the  Analytical Engine, which is
still unbuilt.

Z.

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