Author Archives: Manali Paralkar

Ada Lovelace

06 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in Class Summary

≈ Comments Off on Ada Lovelace

Today Dr. Wagstaff reminded the class to make sure and use MLA or APA format when citing anything.
We started the class with a discussion of whether or not Charles Babbage a success or a failure. Although he did not succeed in building the complete Difference Engine or any of the Analytical Engine, there was a general consensus that Babbage was not a failure. He was mostly successful and had great ideas for the time period. Also, he was constrained by the times.
We next started talking about Ada Lovelace. She was christened Augusta Ada Byron. She later became Augusta Ada King after marrying Lord William King, and then a couple of years later turned into the Countess of Lovelace when Lord King became Count Lovelace. Her mother was Annabella Byron and her father was Lord Byron, a romantic poet. Annabella wanted Ada to have an education just like she had. Ada was very intellectual and liked to learn. She was lucky to get a good education in that time period. She met Babbage at a soiree at his house when she was 17. They became fast friends regardless of the age difference between them.
Ada was doing a lot of translation of Menabrea’s paper on the Analytical Engine and then wrote her Notes. Her Notes were added commentary and analysis along with the translation. At one point, there was disagreement between them where Babbage thought that she should cancel the Translation and the Notes and just write her own paper. Babbage was offended that she did not agree and that she did not attach his “rant” to the publication. She realized that the rant would “detract from the main point of the article.” Ada wanted to also include the Bernoulli Numbers as a concrete example for how the Analytical Engine would work. She was one of the first people to recognize a conditional example. In her personal life, she had three children. She was disappointed that her husband was not an intellectual but he provided her with a comfortable life. Count Lovelace was okay with all the time she spent with Babbage and with her work on the Notes and mathematical equations.
After talking about Ada Lovelace, we created a diagram of the different inventions and of their influence on each other. For example Multiplication influenced both the Pascaline and the Napier’s Rods, both of which influenced the Calculating Clock.

Class Summary 9/28: Looms and Engines

28 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by in Class Summary

≈ 4 Comments

Today, Wednesday, Professor Wagstaff showed us how to use WordPress. The instructor showed us what the dashboard is and how to submit a new post. It is recommended that we save the draft regularly and preview it. Also, if we want to post a link, we can go to the preview and make sure that it works.

Next, we shared the pictures for our first assignment. It is optional to post the first assignment to the blog. Most peoples’ first memory with a computer was playing games rather than using it as a tool for calculation as it was meant for.

After that, we were shown some of the machines leading up to the computer including the Napier’s Rods and the Slide Rule. Napier’s Rods were first invented in 1617. It was made up of a bunch of rods that were lined up to make the number to multiply. Then the numbers in the parallelograms were added up to find the answer. The Slide Rule, created in 1654, was a combination of logarithms and the Napier’s Rods concepts. Next we learned about the Calculating Clock, invented by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623. It included a bunch of Napier’s Rods which were vertically placed and some other bars horizontally placed. In order to multiply, the top bar had to be twisted and the horizontal bars slid or if you wanted to add, then dials on the bottom of the machine were twisted. The clock was destroyed in a fire and “was lost to history until someone discovered Schickard’s notes.” The Pascaline was next, invented in 1642 and it was thought of as the first computer until Schickard’s notes were discovered later on. Lastly, we learned about the Stepped Reckoner, which was invented around 1673. It was a little more mechanized and worked better than the Pascaline.

When this was done, we started discussing the assigned reading about the Jacquard Loom. The weaving was operated by punch cards which set the pattern. The most important aspect of the Jacquard Loom is that it sped up weaving and it can replicate works. It eliminated the need of a “draw boy.” Modern versions weave airbags and replacement valves for blood vessels in a sterile environment. It is now fully computerized. This is a video of the Jacquard Loom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSjmFD6Q7hw.