Analytical engine

A mechanical general-purpose computer designed by Charles Babbage in the 1830s. Its plans combined punched-card instructions with a store for numbers and a mill for calculations.

Punched card: A card whose pattern of holes encodes information for a machine to read. Cards supplied instructions and data, adapting a control method used in Jacquard weaving.
Charles Babbage: An English mathematician and inventor who designed the Difference Engine and Analytical Engine. Babbage conceived the engine and developed its architecture across decades of work.
Ada Lovelace: An English mathematician who wrote notes on the Analytical Engine and described a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers. Her 1843 notes explained the engine’s possibilities and included a detailed program.
Computer programming: The process of specifying instructions that a computer executes to perform tasks. Lovelace’s engine notes set out a detailed sequence of operations before electronic computers existed.
Central processing unit: The component of a computer that executes instructions and coordinates operations. The engine’s mill performed arithmetic and its store held values, functions later grouped in computer architecture.
Difference engine: A mechanical calculator designed to compute polynomial tables using finite differences. Babbage’s earlier machine was specialized for tabulation, unlike the Analytical Engine’s general-purpose design.
Luigi Federico Menabrea: An Italian engineer and mathematician who published an account of Babbage’s engine in 1842. His paper became the basis for Lovelace’s influential translation and extensive notes.
General-purpose computer: A computer designed to perform many kinds of tasks by running different programs. The engine’s programmable design made it a landmark proposal for general-purpose computation.
Memory address: A distinct identifier used to locate a value in computer memory. The engine’s store used numbered locations, allowing instructions to select and manipulate particular values.
Jacquard machine: A loom attachment that used punched cards to control woven patterns. Its card-based control inspired the engine’s method for specifying operations.

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