"The Difference Engine"? It was by Bruce Sterling, iirc...

Charles Steinkuehler wrote:

>>On Wed, Nov ,  at 05:38:32PM -0600, Brian Densmore wrote:
>>
>>>Sorry, still wrong. The dark ages go back to Mr. Babbage (made first
>>>mechanical computer) and his lady Ada (wrote the first program) in the
>>>1800's. Can't tell you the date without searching google. Oh and we
>>>could push this back even further if you want to include slide rules and
>>>the abacus.
>>>
>>Babbage 1822
>>
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>And the programs worked, even though he didn't have hardware to run them on.
>A lot of BCD arithmatic still uses algorithims first crafted by Babbage,
>although he might balk at our modern GPS systems (one of Babbage's sources
>of funds was the Royal Navy, which was looking for a reliable method to
>generate tables of logrithims used in navigation).
>
>Anyone here read the Gibson book where Babbage acutally got the funding to
>build his machines, and the computer age started 100 years earlier than the
>electronic age we all know (title escaping me at the moment)?  We could all
>be measuring the performance of the latest P4 in "gear inches/sec" :-)
>
>Charles Steinkuehler
>charles@steinkuehler.net
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