December 2024
Intermediate to advanced
480 pages
10h 31m
English
A common lore among programmers and computer aficionados is that Charles Babbage was the father of the general-purpose computer and Ada King Lovelace was the first programmer. Many colorful stories, both fictional and quasi-factual, have been told. But, as always, the truth is far more interesting than the lore.
Charles Babbage was born in Walworth, Surrey, on December 26, 1791. The son of a well-to-do banker, he was part of the upper crust of early nineteenth-century British society and inherited a sizable fortune1 that freed him to indulge his interests—which were legion.
1. An estate worth £100,000, which made him independently wealthy and well able to keep his family in comfort while financing ...
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