WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Was Ada Lovelace the first computer programmer? 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.760 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.200 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.640 How Stuff Works, and I heart radio and I love 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.920 all things tech and his time for another classic episode 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:29.400 of tech Stuff. This episode originally published on May two, 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:33.600 thousand ten, and I wanted to publish it today. On 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.240 March eight two is when the republication date is because 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.680 it's International Women's Day, and I thought what more appropriate 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:47.120 way to celebrate International Women's Day than by celebrating one 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:52.720 of the most remarkable women in tech history, Ada Lovelace. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.800 So this episode has the title was Ada Lovelace the 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:02.440 first computer Programmer, which is particular regularly fascinating because she 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.600 lived at a time before computers. Chris Pallette and I 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.560 talk about Ada and you can hear how much we 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.520 fell in love with her as we did our research. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.240 I hope you enjoy this classic episode. We got two 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:20.679 requests in the space of a week, which is not 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.840 a big surprise considering the the subject of this um 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.680 this podcast, it's a listener mail rock blow Yes. So 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.600 this comes from Bridget and Adam. So I'll read bridgets first, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.720 Bridget is from Australia, but I'm not going to try 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.959 and do an Australian accent because whenever I do, I 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.039 sound like a New Zealander who suffered massive head trauma. 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:47.039 So here is bridgets email. Good day, Chris and Jonathan. 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.600 I've been spending some time lately looking to inspirational people 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.840 in hope of finding a suitable name for my soon 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:56.320 to be born child. Such searching brought me to Aida Lovelace, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.560 otherwise known as the Mother of Coding. I've done a 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.320 little search into Ada and found that there's some discussion 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.400 as to whether she deserves this moniker. Was Ada Lovelace 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.440 the first computer programmer and therefore a worthy namesake for 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.440 my future daughter? Let me know what you think. Cheers, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.800 Bridget and Adams. Was I recently learned a little about 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.160 Ada Lovelace, the first woman to write an algorithm that 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.239 would be read by a computer, and thought it would 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.440 make a great podcast. I love the show. Keep up 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.640 the amazing work. Can you also do a show on 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:30.519 the LHC. Please cheers? Insert beer clink sound here. Alright, 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.920 Bridget and Adam, this is our podcast about Ada, not 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.320 about the lhc um jan, we can't do this podcast. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.280 What do you mean we can't do this podcast? It's 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.520 already been done. I mean Stuff you Missed in History Class, 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.160 it's already done a whole podcast. There's a podcast called 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.480 stuff you Missed in History Class? There is It's wonderful, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.239 is that the one with Katy and Sarah? It is indeed, 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.840 and they talked about Ada Lovelace already they did, and 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:56.360 they did really Well, you know what we should do, 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.400 what's that? We should just have their podcast play and 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.440 we'll sign off. All right, we'll just insert their podcast 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.079 here and then no, we can't. We can't do that. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.400 We can't do that. Besides, they specifically mentioned us in 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.600 that podcast. Well, maybe what we should do then is 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:14.160 talk specifically about her computer programming expertise and how she 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.880 managed to do that considering she lived in the eighteen hundreds. Yeah, 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.840 you would think she lived before computers. How could she 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.440 have written a computer programmer? Program? Rather not she wrote 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.360 a programmer. That's been a long week. Well, we're gonna 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.160 do this on Friday. Actual clearly not, but we're going 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.839 to tell you how she wrote a computer program. First 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:35.440 of all, Bridget I'm going to get this all the way. 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.680 First of all, congratulations on your child, Um, and also 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.200 Aida is more than worthy, I would say. In fact, 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.160 I kind of fell in love with this lady the 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.600 more I read about her. Actually her first name was 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.040 an Aida. No, it was Augusta Augusta Ada Byron. Yeah, 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.839 Augusta Ada Byron, daughter of Lord Byron the poet. Yes. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.560 She was born December eighteen fifteen, the daughter of Lord 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.080 George Gordon Byron and Annabella Millbank Byron. Um. Actually, your 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.640 parents married on the second of January and eighteen fifteen, 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.800 but were separated by January six, eighteen sixteen. YEA, so 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.360 the marriage lasted a full year and a week and 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.320 a half, just long enough to uh to have the 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.680 first computer programmer born to them, right, Um, so yes, 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.120 they're they're marriage was not a happy one. Her parents 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.080 and uh. In fact, um young Ada was never to meet. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.120 Her father was separated. Um, she lived with her mom, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.000 and her mom had decided that Aida did not really 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.359 need to have the distractions of poetry. She thought that 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:41.400 Byron's rather unpredictable personality let's call it that showy um 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.919 was due to his romanticism and his obsession with poetry. Yeah, 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.599 let's just and and Annabella. The mother felt that the 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.560 that such qualities were not really admirable. She didn't want 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.839 her daughter to have the same sort of personality and 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:01.760 uh and and wanting lifestyle as the father did had 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.000 so um, so she thought, well, what's the least poetic 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.000 thing I can push my daughter into. I happen to 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:12.320 be an amateur mathematician. Let's push her into mathematics. Yeah. Actually, uh. 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.960 As a matter of fact, I found out that Lord 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:21.239 Byron had referred to his very brief married married wife. Um, 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.360 he called Annabella the Princess of parallelograms. Yes, that was 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:31.560 a lot poetic. It was not meant to be a compliment, nonetheless, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.279 but it does illustrate that she had a mathematical bent herself. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.640 And what I find interesting is that not only were 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:45.440 Lord Byron's poetical genes evident later in Ada's life, but 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.279 it's actually she ended up being sort of a blend 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.680 of both of her parents, as is appropriate for this case. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:59.080 and Ada herself received a wonderful, wonderful title given to 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.840 her by by Charles Babbage, who will will discuss at 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.400 length in a little bit. Uh. The enchantress of numbers, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:10.680 which I think is an amazing, amazing phrase and very 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:15.960 fitting as well. So Aida grows up UM with some 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.839 of the best tutors in that you can imagine. During 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.920 this time she studies mathematics and has absolutely fascinated with them, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.800 the subject of mathematics, and is incredibly adept, an amazing student. 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.640 In fact, the more we research data, the more I 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:38.280 realized anyway, that she was phenomenally more intelligent than I am. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.840 I mean, I can't even really compare UM. She was 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:49.359 able to to understand algorithms that that completely baffle me, 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.039 and I was able to to really study them in 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.320 a way that she found fascinating. I find them perplexing 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:01.520 and maddening. She found it as having its own kind 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.960 of poetry. UM. And in a way you think about it, well, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.120 this kind of makes sense, you know, we we when 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.479 you really look at algorithms, we're talking about things like 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.840 number theory and how the universe sort of works, like 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.560 how things kind of fit together. And we expressed this 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.440 more often than not through mathematic equations and algorithms and 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.960 things of that nature. And she was able to see 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.280 that kind of stuff. I'm under I can understand the 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.520 underlying concept, but when you get beyond that, it just 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.400 I feel like I'm a fish out of water. Yeah, 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:39.320 I understand. Well, let's see, Um, somebody who else who 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.120 was fascinated with her would be William King. Yes, he 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.680 was so fascinated. Whether he married her? Well, the first 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.320 William King who was who was her tutor? I found 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.440 that I found this interesting. I mean the two different 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.720 William Kings. Well, no, actually I did mean I did 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:54.840 mean her future husband. But it was really funny because 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:56.640 it confused me for a second when I was doing 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.280 the research. I said, William King was her tutor, and 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.720 then it turns out there was a William King, not 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.480 the one she married, as her tutor, who was apparently 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.840 immediately feeling out of his depth as he talked to her. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.640 He realized that she had a much more innate grasp 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.200 of mathematics than he did, so he he actually bowed 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.520 out very quickly. He was one of the many many 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.760 But yeah, less than a year later, apparently he uh 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:25.680 ad married the other William King, who um was the 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.320 eighth Baron King and was an earl, made an earl 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:39.360 in ninety eight, so that's when she became eighteen thirty eight, dude, Sorry, So, yes, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.640 he was made an earl in eighteen thirty eight, and 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.480 that's when she became the Countess of Lovelace. Yes, so 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.280 he usually just referred to her as Ada Lovelace. Uh Now. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:55.360 Aida continued her her almost obsession with mathematics throughout her life, 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:01.800 which unfortunately was tragically short Ada us away from after 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.319 contracting cancer. Um. I think she was thirty seven. It 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.640 was eighteen fifty two, and she died November eighteen eighteen. Right. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:16.160 Uh so, but during that her life she ended up 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.520 encountering lots of remarkable people, including you know, like the 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.080 author of Charles Dickens, who became a close friend. One 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.920 of her other friends was Charles Babbage. Yeah, she met 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:32.240 she met Babbage, who was the Leucassian professor of mathematics 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:37.520 at Cambridge. She met him when she was just seventeen. Um, 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.720 which is a pretty interesting eighteen thirty three was it 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.360 went around when that happened. Chris and I have more 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.960 to say about Ada Lovelace in just a moment, But 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:55.880 first let's take a quick break. Should we get into 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.800 the the time when she was talking at a party 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:05.280 Babbage about this new machine Um, he had come up 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:10.960 with this thing, the analytical Engine. Yes, all right, well 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.240 let's let's backtrack just a touch before we get into 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.679 the analytical Engine. That was not the first machine that 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.920 Babbage had proposed. No, no, not at all. As a 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.600 matter of fact, we brought it up before from the past, right, 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.960 that was a fun podcast, Um, But yes, this was 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.040 a more recent one. And as we talked about on 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.280 that podcast, Um, Babbage was having difficulty getting funding for 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.920 these amazing machines because people just didn't get it. Babbage 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.720 was able to get subfunding for his first uh machine, 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.840 which is called the Difference Engine. Yes, it was different 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.439 from the other one, right, it was a little more 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.800 simplistic than his idea for the analytical engine. Right now. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.000 The Difference Engine, he managed to get some money to 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.760 fund it, but his the process of building it was 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:57.679 a very long, laborious process. They had to actually machine 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.679 these parts by hand and and try and it all together. 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.520 And uh, he kind of ran out of money before 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.000 he ran out of machine. Machine was not done yet. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.640 And um it was in the process of this whole 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.640 construction phase that he got the idea for the analytical machine, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.200 which was even more ambitious than the difference engine. Right, 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.520 So the analytical engine was going to be uh more 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.880 complex and be able to do more than the difference engine, 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.319 which you could kind of say was essentially a giant calculator, right. 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:31.199 The analytical engine was more like a very primitive computer. 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.400 And as a matter of fact that at that time, 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.280 that whole time thing, the fact that it was taking 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.199 a long time to build, did not help him when 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.560 he was seeking funding for the analytical engine. Right. There 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:42.920 were two things that two things that budd that kind 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:44.760 of plagued him when he was trying to get some money. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.480 One was that he had not finished the difference engine, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.160 and that was kind of what he was being paid 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.959 for in the first place. So his funders were saying, 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.960 until you build this other machine you promised us several 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.600 years ago, we ain't given you no more money. Yeah, 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.520 And then the other part of they probably did say 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.600 like that out They probably said with an English accents, 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.760 that's probably till you go and fish daddy, we ain't 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:09.600 given you no more money. They're apparently all glad, apparently 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.520 apparently all played by Dick van Dyke. So anyway, at 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.440 any rate, so Sabbage is in a tight spot. But 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.880 he comes up with this idea of the analytical engine, 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.760 and of course he's very passionate about it, so he's 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.680 blabbering on and on about it at parties. Yes, then 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:30.120 you have young Ada Lovelace, who overhears such talk thinks 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.120 this sounds absolutely fascinating. And not only does she think 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:39.400 it's interesting, she immediately sees the potential to use such 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:45.840 a device far beyond even Babbage is uh concepts. Sabbage 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.079 is thinking, well, this would allow you to create an 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:53.040 engine that would be able to generate the numbers that 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.920 you would find in a logarithmic table. Yes, because until 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.280 that point you pretty much had to be able to 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.160 come up with those figures by doing the calculations all yourself. 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.760 And these calculations were pretty complex, and it was easy 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.520 to make a mistake along the way, which would of 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.360 course affect all of your figures from that point on. Uh. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.160 And he he just he was sitting down one day 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.079 and he was thinking, what if I could What if 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.480 there are a machine, some steam powered machine that could 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.280 generate these numbers so I wouldn't have to and then 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.640 I could I could generate them as far out as 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.440 I wanted to. Uh. And I wouldn't have to worry 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.440 about error because the machine would just be following the 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.880 same algorithm over and over and over again. Yes, well, 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.680 Ada thought of that, and she even went further. She 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.559 said that you could potentially use mathematics to represent other 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:53.720 things like text or images or even music. She would 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:59.720 had foreseen computers. This remarkable woman was able to look 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.319 at this machine that really was meant to be able 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.319 to run algorithms so that you could generate more mathematical 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.640 figures mainly in the in the pursuit of mathematics itself 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.760 and things like number theory, um, and she was able 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:19.360 to see even grander uses, which to me is it's 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.120 it's it's one of those discoveries that I just think 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.720 before that time, no one had ever really even considered this, 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.640 and then she just comes up with it just by 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.520 looking at this thing and seeing its potential. Yes, it's 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.600 that's where I'm like, Okay, this woman was way above 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.920 and beyond smarter than I am. All right, stop geeking 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:41.560 out for a second. Okay, I'm sorry. I will I 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.440 will give you a quote from her. As a matter 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.000 of fact, she h she compared to to Jacquard's looms 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.320 if you will remember we've mentioned that machine a couple 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.000 of times on the podcast. I believe, Um, this was 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:57.880 a loom that was invented by uh Monsieur Jacquard and 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.640 basically made a lot of unhappy because it used punch 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.040 cards to automate parts of the weaving process. You could 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:06.840 put in a pattern, a card for a pattern, and 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.600 the loom would be able to weave that pattern into 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.680 the fabric. While she said, um, we may say most 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.600 aptly that the analytical engine weaves algebraical patterns just as 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:23.280 the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves. So see, there 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.120 you go, there's that whole poetry thing she's you know, 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.640 that's just in there. Yeah. Well, and and like I said, 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.800 even if you even if you ignore the language, and 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.080 Ada was very gifted with with words, just as she 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.280 was with mathematics. Um, the fact that she could see 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:44.400 the poetry in in math is again very phenomenal to me. Well, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.120 I meant that she was making connections between something that 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.720 was completely, well not completely, but and wide in a 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.240 wide way. It was it was not very related directly 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:58.200 to this analytical engine. Uh. Also you might notice, um, 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.200 she sort of foresaw the use of punch cards, uh, 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.080 to be used for programs. So she's already thinking in 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.840 a programmatic sense. Yeah. Actually, Babbage himself talked a little 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:13.680 bit about punch cards when he wrote about his analytical engine. Um. Yeah, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.920 and in his sense he was talking about the the 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.520 use for punch cards for two purposes. And we've talked 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.480 about this. Babbage also we we shouldn't we shouldn't know. 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.720 He's leave him out of this amazing innovation as well. 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:32.280 Babbage was also amazing in his ability to foresee the 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.840 future as far as computers are concerned. Now, granted, his 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.120 devices were all mechanical as opposed to electrical, Yes, but 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:45.360 they the principles of electronic computing are based very firmly 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:50.760 on Babbage's discoveries. Um. Babbage foresaw the use of punch 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.040 cards using a few different kinds of punch cards. One 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.080 would be a set of instructions, and the other would 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:02.720 be would represent the constants variables of whatever formula you're 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.040 plugging in. Right, So one is the program and the 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.080 other is the information that you plug into the program 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.880 to get a result. Exactly the same sort of thing 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.120 that we see in microprocessors today. What Babbage was doing. 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:18.720 Was was the the precursor to the micro processor. It's 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.960 just his was a macro processor because it was enormous 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.200 and weighed tons and tons. If he had ever managed 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.400 to actually build it at the size of that silicon wafer, yeah, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.480 he never. He never did build the analytical engine. He 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.760 did he realized during his lifetime that it was not 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:34.560 going to happen, and I'm sure it was a massive 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.920 disappointment to him. But they have been made since. Yes, 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.399 there was one created almost like an art project in 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.200 the early nineties, and um, fun I think it's in 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.200 a museum now, right, Yeah, Actually, I think I think 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.080 there may be two. To be honest, I think it's 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:50.960 one of the things that I ran across the mention 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.600 of as I was looking specifically for information about it 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:55.360 to love life, so I didn't follow it, but yeah, 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:57.000 I think I think I saw that there were two 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.520 in existence now that had been created just because you 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:04.399 can and and Babbage actually wrote that the analytical engine 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.760 would eventually contain an apparatus for printing on paper or 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:13.080 if required, up to two copies printed out on paper 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.080 ahead of the iPad. I'm kidding their software for that. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.639 It would have a means for producing a stereotype mold 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.240 of the tables or results it computes, and it would 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.679 have a mechanism for punching on blank pasteboard cards or 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.960 metal plates the numerical results of any of its computations. So, 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.719 in other words, you would read it by looking at 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.919 a punch card. You would find the results of whatever 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.480 it was that you were trying to uh to calculate, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:47.560 and the his his method of designating a punch card 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:52.159 was actually pretty simple. But each punch card had um 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:57.119 had several columns of holes or columns where you could 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:02.320 punch a hole and ten rows. And if you punched 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.439 the top hole, that would be a one. If you 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.040 punched the top two that would be a two, If 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:09.680 you punch the top three that would be a three. 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.960 So this isn't binary, you see what I'm saying. Yes, 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.600 So it was a very simple way. You would look 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.679 at the punch card and you would say, all right, 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.120 well the first number is a three because the first 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:21.960 three holes are punched. That kind of thing that made 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:26.000 it pretty easy to read. Yes, But again Babbage was 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.240 just thinking in terms of numbers. Love Lace was the 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.840 one who was thinking in terms of graphics, music, that 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.880 kind of thing. We have a bit more to say 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.280 about the enchantress of numbers, but before we get into that, 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:50.760 let's take another quick break. Lovelace comes up with a 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.800 kind of a test. She she writes out of program 0:19:54.880 --> 0:20:01.080 essentially based on Babbage's uh design for the analytical engine. Now, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.040 this engine again did not physically exist at this point, 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.440 in fact, that it never existed during his life, and 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:13.159 and and Lovelace predeceased Babbage. So Lovelace looks at this 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:17.000 design and she says, you know what, let's just take 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.879 one uh one mathematical algorithm, and I will design a 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:27.760 program for this engine that would fulfill this algorithm. So 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.880 she decides to create a program that would generate Bernoulli numbers. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.640 I would like to explain to you what a Bernoulli 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.840 number is, Honestly, I would like to, but I'm an 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:44.439 English major, and no, seriously, I looked at Bernoulli numbers. 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.080 I looked up five or six different explanations, and really 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.960 it's just a it's a it's a level of mathematics 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.520 with which I am not comfortable. So I cannot even 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:59.119 explain um. They're generated through the through a simple algorithm, 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.200 relatively simple algorithm, and um, Lovelace was able to create 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.840 a program that would have generated Bernoulli numbers through the 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:11.200 analytic engine had it ever been built. So I would 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.000 say that, yes, you can call her the first computer 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:17.159 programmer definitely. So um, yeah, it's I admit it's been 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:19.520 a long time since, uh, since I took calculus to 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.159 more than twenty years now. But yeah, the Bernoulli numbers 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:28.040 were named for Jaco Bernoulli, who published actually the work 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.120 was published after his death. It was published in seventeen thirteen, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.320 um and based on the and that was in the 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.439 art I hope I probably am not pronouncing this right 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:42.640 ours knjak Condi or yeah, anyway, anyway, it was published 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.520 by Mr Bernoulli, who was one of several in his 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.320 family to work with math um. But the Bernoulli numbers 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.879 are very very important because they can be used in 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.639 a lot of different ways related to number theory and 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.040 triggonometric functions as well. But yes, number theory, I mean 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.480 we're talking about a lot of pure mathematics here. Yeah, 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.160 it's it's basically has to deal with the consecutive integers 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.760 and and the way the sums of powers are calculated. Yeah, 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:14.000 I read that, and um sure ye. Also I should 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.879 also point out before anyone writes in uh, he was 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:18.919 not the first, He was not the only person to 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.760 discover this principle. Well, I mean this is a time 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:24.960 of people who were discovering things at the same time, 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.560 right at the same time. There was two different forms. 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:32.320 I want to say it was a Japanese scholar who 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.480 discovered it, and also his work was published after he 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:40.399 passed away, and it was published in seventeen twelve, one 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:44.480 year before. But they probably discovered it around the same time. Yeah, 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.440 because this was actually almost ten years I think after 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:51.480 Bernoulli's death, so it would have been back concurrently, simultaneous, 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:56.040 concurrently sign I was sorry that would have been rely redundant. Well, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.000 it's hard to say he was first, but they were 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:01.560 around the same time. I'm just as you know, in 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:05.920 the immediately preceding years we have the calculus being conceived of. 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:08.160 It's fast. It must have been a really heavy time 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.760 for mathematicians. Oh sure, and uh so yeah, I mean 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.320 the fact that that Lovelace was able to you know, 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.879 she she knew of course about this um the algorithm 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:22.840 to generate Bernoulli numbers and was able to program a 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.399 You know this this is all more or less a 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.240 thought experiment, because again, nothing existed with which upon which 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:31.359 she could run this program. But she was able to 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:34.520 create a program that would have generated Bernoulli numbers based 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.480 upon the way that the analytical engine would have worked. 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:43.919 So the fact that one she understood this, which all 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:46.800 by itself is pretty amazing to me, because I mean 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.560 in the sense that I find it completely incomprehensible. Too. 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:53.440 She was able to write a program for something that 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:57.239 only existed in theory, I mean, and and she had 0:23:57.280 --> 0:23:59.159 a lot of influence with Babbage. The two of them 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:03.880 together really kind of shaped the analytical engine, and they 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:07.600 would find errors into each other's work. So it wasn't 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:10.440