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Analytical engine
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== Comparison to other early computers == If the analytical engine had been built, it would have been [[digital data|digital]], [[computer program|programmable]] and [[Turing completeness|Turing-complete]]. It would, however, have been very slow. Luigi Federico Menabrea reported in ''Sketch of the Analytical Engine'': "Mr. Babbage believes he can, by his engine, form the product of two numbers, each containing twenty figures, in three minutes".{{sfn|Menabrea|Lovelace|1843|p=688}} By comparison the [[Harvard Mark I]] could perform the same task in just six seconds (though it is debatable that computer is Turing complete; the ENIAC, which is, would also have been faster). A modern CPU could do the same thing in under a billionth of a second. {{Further|History of computing hardware#Early digital computer characteristics}} {| class="wikitable" |- ! Name ! First operational ! Numeral system ! Computing mechanism ! [[Computer program|Programming]] ! [[Turing completeness|Turing complete]] ! Memory |- ! [[Difference engine]] | Not built until the 1990s (design 1820s) | [[Decimal]] | [[Mechanical engineering|Mechanical]] | Not programmable; initial numerical constants of polynomial differences set physically | {{No}} | Physical state of wheels in axes |- ! Analytical engine | Not built (design 1830s)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plan 28 Blog |url=https://blog.plan28.org/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |language=en}}</ref> | [[Decimal]] | [[Mechanical engineering|Mechanical]] | Program-controlled by [[punched card]]s | {{Yes}} (design; not built, yet) | Physical state of wheels in axes |- ! [[Percy Ludgate|Ludgate]]'s analytical engine | Not built (design 1909) | [[Decimal]] | [[Mechanical engineering|Mechanical]] | Program-controlled by punched cards | {{Yes}} (not built) | Physical state of rods |- ! [[Leonardo Torres y Quevedo#Analytical machines| Torres]]' analytical machine | 1920 | [[Decimal]] | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] | Not programmable; input and output settings specified by patch cables | {{No}} | Mechanical [[relay]]s |- ! [[Z1 (computer)|Zuse Z1]] {{small|(Germany)}} | 1939 | [[Binary numeral system|Binary]] [[floating-point arithmetic|floating point]] | [[Mechanical engineering|Mechanical]] | Not programmable; cipher input settings specified by patch cables | {{No}} | Physical state of rods |- ! [[Bombe]] {{small|(Poland, UK, US)}} | 1939 ([[Bomba (cryptography)|Polish]]), March 1940 (British), May 1943 (US) | [[Character (computing)|Character]] computations | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] | Not programmable; cipher input settings specified by patch cables | {{No}} | Physical state of rotors <!-- |{{rh}}| Arthur H. Dickinson [[IBM]] {{small|(US)}} ||style="text-align:right;" | Jan 1940 || [[Decimal]]|| [[Electronics|Electronic]] || {{No2|Not}} programmable || {{No}} |- |{{rh}}| [[Joseph Desch]] [[NCR Corporation|NCR]] {{small|(US)}} ||style="text-align:right;" | March 1940 || [[Decimal]] || [[Electronics|Electronic]] || {{No2|Not}} programmable || {{No}} --> |- ! [[Z2 (computer)|Zuse Z2]] {{small|(Germany)}} | 1940 | [[Binary numeral system|Binary]] [[fixed-point arithmetic|fixed point]] | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] ([[mechanical engineering|mechanical]] memory) | Program-controlled by punched {{val|35|u=mm}} [[film stock]] (no conditional branch) | {{No}} | Physical state of rods |- ! [[Z3 (computer)|Zuse Z3]] {{small|(Germany)}} | May 1941 | [[Binary numeral system|Binary]] [[floating-point arithmetic|floating point]] | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] | Program-controlled by punched {{val|35|u=mm}} [[film stock]] (but no conditional branch) | In theory {{small|([[Z3 (computer)#Z3 as a universal Turing machine|1998]])}} | Mechanical relays |- ! [[Atanasoff–Berry Computer|Atanasoff–Berry computer]] {{small|(US)}} | 1942 | [[Binary number|Binary]] | [[Electronics|Electronic]] | Not programmable; linear system coefficients input using punched cards | {{No}} | [[Dynamic random-access memory|Regenerative capacitor memory]] |- ! [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] Mark 1 {{small|(UK)}} | December 1943 | [[Binary number|Binary]] | [[Electronics|Electronic]] | Program-controlled by patch cables and switches | {{No}} | [[vacuum tube|Thermionic valves (vacuum tubes)]] and [[thyratron]]s |- ! [[Harvard Mark I]] – IBM ASCC {{small|(US)}} | May 1944 | [[Decimal]] | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] | Program-controlled by 24-channel [[punched tape|punched paper tape]] (but no conditional branch) | Debatable | Mechanical relays<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mark I Computer |url=https://chsi.harvard.edu/markone/function.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710053417/http://chsi.harvard.edu/markone/function.html |archive-date=10 July 2015 |work=[[Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments]] |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |access-date=7 May 2016}}</ref> <!-- |- |{{rh}}| [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] Mark 1 {{small|(UK)}} ||style="text-align:right;" | Feb 1944 || Binary || Electronic || Program-controlled by patch cables and switches || {{No|[[Colossus computer#Influence and fate|No]]}} --> |- ! [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] Mark 2 {{small|(UK)}} | 1 June 1944 | Binary | Electronic | Program-controlled by patch cables and switches | Conjectured<ref name="Wells pp. 1383–1405">{{cite journal | last=Wells | first=Benjamin | title=Unwinding performance and power on Colossus, an unconventional computer | journal=Natural Computing | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=10 | issue=4 | date=2010-11-18 | issn=1567-7818 | doi=10.1007/s11047-010-9225-x | pages=1383–1405| s2cid=7492074 }}</ref> |- ! Zuse [[Z4 (computer)|Z4]] {{small|(Germany)}} | March 1945 (or 1948)<ref>{{cite web |title=Konrad Zuse—the first relay computer |url=https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/Zuse.html |publisher=History of Computers |access-date=7 May 2016}}</ref> | [[Binary number|Binary]] [[floating-point arithmetic|floating point]] | [[Electromechanics|Electro-mechanical]] | Program-controlled by punched {{val|35|u=mm}} film stock | [[Z4 (computer)#Construction|In 1950]] | Mechanical [[relay]]s |- ! [[ENIAC]] {{small|(US)}} | <!-- "Feb 1946", no? "completed in 1945 and first put to work for practical purposes on December 10, 1945" --> December 1945 | [[Decimal]] | [[Electronics|Electronic]] | Program-controlled by patch cables and switches | {{Yes}} | [[Triode|Vacuum tube triode]] [[flip-flop (electronics)|flip-flops]] |- <!-- |- |{{rh}}| [[ENIAC|Modified ENIAC]] {{small|(US)}} ||style="text-align:right;white-space:nowrap;" | April 1948 || Decimal || Electronic || Read-only stored programming mechanism using the Function Tables as program [[Read-only memory|ROM]] || {{Yes}} |- |{{rh}}| [[APEXC|ARC2 (SEC)]] {{small|(UK)}} ||style="text-align:right;" | May 1948 || Binary || Electronic || [[Stored-program computer|Stored-program]] in [[drum memory|rotating drum memory]] || {{Yes}} --> ! [[Manchester Baby]] {{small|(UK)}} | June 1948 | [[Binary number|Binary]] | [[Electronics|Electronic]] | Binary program entered into memory by keyboard<ref>{{cite web |title=The Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine – "The Baby" |url=https://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/mark1/new.baby.html |publisher=[[Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester]] |date=April 1999 |access-date=7 May 2016}}</ref> (first electronic stored-program digital computer) | {{Yes}} | [[Williams tube|Williams cathode ray tube]] <!-- |- |{{rh}}| [[Manchester Mark 1]] {{small|(UK)}} || style="text-align:right;" | April 1949 || Binary || Electronic || Stored-program in Williams cathode-ray tube memorydand [[drum memory|magnetic drum]] memory|| {{Yes}} --> |- ! [[EDSAC]] {{small|(UK)}} | May 1949 | [[Binary number|Binary]] | [[Electronics|Electronic]] | Five-bit opcode and variable-length operand (first stored-program computer offering computing services to a wide community). | {{Yes}} | Mercury delay lines |}
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