In 1834, Charles Babbage, a computer pioneer, envisioned an ambitious machine called the Analytical Engine, a broadly useful programmable computing machine. The Analytical Engine was made up of many essential features found in the modern digital computer. It was programmed using punched cards, which was a way of giving information to the machine. “The Engine had a ‘Store’ where numbers and intermediate results could be held, and a separate ‘Mill’ where the arithmetic processing was performed” (Computer History Museum, 2016 ). It also had the ability to perform the four basic arithmetical functions and had a variety of outputs including hardcopy printout, punched cards, graph plotting etc.
A modern computer is made up of similar components such as the ones found in the Analytical Engine. For example, the Random Access Memory (RAM) is the contemporary equivalent to the ‘Store’, of the Analytical Engine. “The primary storage in the modern computer is a miniaturized electronic component which provides temporary storage of information. Primary storage is volatile and relatively expensive, but it’s used because it is fast and, with few exceptions, the only storage which the CPU can access directly” (Touque, 2016 ). The single example of primary storage is RAM which is similar to the ‘Store’ of the Analytical engine as they both store intermediate results which can be accessed directly by the central processing unit of the machine in question. Also, the central processing unit (CPU) found in the modern computer, is similar to the ‘Mill’ of the Analytical Engine. The CPU is “a miniaturized electronic component which controls the execution of a computer and which performs basic arithmetic and logical operations” (Touque, 2016 ). The CPU can be called the computer’s “brain”, which is also true of the ‘Mill’, as this was where the machine’s arithmetic processes were performed. Last but not the least, input devices are yet another common factor between the modern computer and the Analytical Engine. The modern computer uses keyboards, mouses, disc drives etc, to input information into the computer. This general feature was also present in the case of the Analytical Engine, which utilized punched cards as a method of inputting information into the machine.
Therefore, “The logical structure of the Analytical Engine was essentially the same as that which has dominated computer design in the electronic era - the separation of the memory (the ‘Store’) from the central processor (the ‘Mill’ ) serial operation using a ‘fetch-execute cycle’, and facilities for inputting and outputting data and instructions” (Computer History Museum, 2016 ).
Computer History Museum (2016). The Babbage Engine. Retrieved 2016-10-21 from <http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/engines/>.
Touque(2016).BasicComputerGlossary. Retrieved 2016-10-21 from <http://touque.ca/EC/resources/cs/glossary/basic_computer/definitions.php#primary_storage>.
The Analytical Engine: The Analytical Engine of Charles Babbage, <http://history-computer.com/Babbage/AnalyticalEngine.html>. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
A modern computer: A simple modern computer, <https://pixabay.com/en/photos/modern/?cat=computer>. Retrieved 2016-10-21.