Computer History Difference Engine How did one of the early

Computer History: Difference Engine. How did one of the early computers work(System. run, code,etc)?

Solution

Difference engine: It was actually built by taking inspiration from Charles Babbage\'s design.The first difference engine that was built is now based in the London museum.

It is a kind of a calculator that functions mechanically to calculate polynomial functions.The idea for this difference machine was put forward by J.H Mueller in the year 1786 while Charles Babbage was the one to carry forward the idea in 1822.However it was as at that time meant for the calculation of decimals based on astronomical and mathematical tables.The British Government favoured this concept and decided to fund the project. In this way the difference machine was built based on Charles Babbages\'s designs.

Operation : The difference engine consisted of columns that contained number from 1 to n.A single decimal number was stored in every column and a value of n+1 was added to n so that a new value could be produced.

Initial values were set to the machine so that it would start programming.The column 1 is where the values are set initially and column 2 is where the derivatives are placed.Values are set after being derived from n-1.So basically it was all based on the process of iteration. And the timing for these operations was set in such a way that a single meant a complete set of operations and it\'s respective carry forwards.And this happened for every rotation.And every iteration produced a new result.

Even numbered and odd numbered columns were added and the resulting values were put in odd columns.

The carry forwards was done or achieved by the incrementations of wheels. And when it came to subtraction- this was achieved by the machine containing negative numbers in terms of ten\'s complements.

And also this lead to the start of finite mathematics.The difference engine was also known as the analytical engine.

The computer was brought into picture so as to reduce the complexities of computations and allow a sequence of operations to run . Today\'s modern computer consists of the CPU which is where the operations are actually performed.

On of the earliest computational device that was ever used was in the form of a tally stick.Counting rods is another example.The abacus was used to perform all the arithmetic operations. Later on Charles babbage brought out the concept of analytical engine and the concept of modern computer was put forwar by Alan Turing.And it was known as the Universal Computing Machine which also came to be known as the Universal Turing Machine.The main concept here was to store programs.

Then down the lane-the von neuman architecture with the machine code came into picture.The machine code now is nothing but a set of individual instructions that are stored with a unique code known as the opcode.

A computer was invented to peform high speed logical operations in a quicker way and was used to simplify the work of humans.

Today we live in a digital world where can find anything in the computer within a few seconds and perform complicated operations on the system and also use different software tools to achieve it.

These tools again include coding which was brought into picture through the birth of machine level laguage which is something understood by the machine as it stores digits in the binary format.