Qbasic 1

[Charles Steinkuehler]

> 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

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 at steinkuehler.net