(November 10, 2010 at 3:30 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote:I would argue that Charles Babbage's Difference engine precedes that by far. You haven't lived if you haven't seen this awesome machine in operation.(November 3, 2010 at 6:41 pm)Statler Waldorf Wrote: Seriously? So since all software uses binary code then all computers must have evolved from a common ancestor?
Cough..Collossus....Cough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer
The Colossus machines were electronic computing devices used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during World War II. These were the world's first programmable, digital, electronic, computing devices. They used vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) to perform the calculations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine