The Difference Engine 96
| The Difference Engine | |
| author | Doron Swade |
| pages | 342 |
| publisher | Viking Press |
| rating | 8 |
| reviewer | Adam Jenkins |
| ISBN | 0670910201 |
| summary | The story of Charles Babbage, including the work of London’s Science Museum to build a working Difference Engine |
Overview
The book was first published in 2000 by Little, Brown and Company as The Cogwheel Brain: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer to coincide with the unveiling of the printing part of the Science Museum's Difference Engine. A paperback was also released by Abacus. The book I reviewed is an American edition that published in hardcover format by Viking and Penguin in September 2001. It's the same book, just a different title.
The Difference Engine is arranged chronologically, in three parts. Part I is titled "The Difference Engine" and describes Babbage's work to build his Difference Engine, an automatic calculating machine. Part II is about an improved machine he designed, The Analytical Engine. A Modern Sequel (Part III) tells the story of the London Science Museum's project to build a working Difference Engine.
The Difference Engine
In the 19th century, a "computer" was a person who performed calculations by hand, not a machine. Mass production techniques hadn't been developed yet, and making precision parts was a craft rather than an industry, where the screws one maker produced for you would all have a thread slightly different from that of screws you bought from someone else.Swade describes Babbage's life from his early years, when he was expelled from Cambridge after presenting a formal thesis that was deemed blasphemous, and quarrelling with his father about his marriage. At age 29, sitting with his friend the astronomer John Herschel checking math tables, Babbage exclaimed "I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam!" So Babbage's quest began -- to build a machine to perform calculations automatically so that they would be less error-prone, leaving humans to think instead of labor. He wrote to Sir Humphrey Davy, the President of the Royal Society, the society for the scientific elite at the time (Babbage was himself a member), as well as to other influential friends and colleagues to try and raise interest in his project. The Society liked the proposal of this "engine" and awarded him a gold medal and funding. But after five years of work (with his component builder Joseph Clements) and no engine, people began criticising Babbage, claiming he had been unable to finish the project and was concealing this so he could keep getting paid. The Society checked up on him, decided his progress was acceptable, and kept funding him.
Babbage then wrote a controversial book criticising the decline of science in England and suggesting an overhaul of the Royal Society, which didn't win him much support. Clements went on strike over a pay and ownership of tools dispute, then finally quit. Babbage had a portion of his Difference Engine built, which he showed off at the elaborate parties he threw, and he managed to get a lot of people excited about his ideas, including his belief that miracles were just the effect of God's laws which we weren't privy to; that God is basically a programmer.
The Analytical Engine
Whereas the Difference Engine was the equivalent of a calculator and quite limited in its capabilities, the Analytical Engine was more like the modern computer. Ideas were borrowed from the looms used in the textile industry -- ideas that are now famously part of modern computers; the Mill (CPU), Store (Storage) and an input facility (punched cards). Babbage designed his own Mechanical Notation to describe the engine's design. He wasn't actively looking for funding, but rather just working on his designs. He wrote to the Duke of Wellington, complaining about how the Government has treated him, and mentioned working on a new machine. In a letter to the Prime Minister Robert Peel, he asked that the Government decide; should he continue work on the old machine or start on the Analytical Engine?
Babbage was a man with many interests and for a while during his occasional exchanges with government officials he worked as an unofficial consultant for five months working to settle the railway "gauge war" -- e.g. work out whether a broader or narrower gauge was better. Babbage believed his work was more acknowledged overseas than in England, and he was suitably encouraged when he was invited to speak about his Analytical Engine at a conference in Turin, Italy. This encouraged him to campaign for funding for it, both in England and also overseas. The first published description appeared in a Swiss journal in 1842.
Robert Peel sought a way to fob off Babbage and was given this in the form of a advice from George Biddell Airy, the Astronomer Royal. After 20 years of work, Babbage finally got a letter saying his work would no longer be funded, but that the government was withdrawing it's claim to the finished work. Babbage politely refused, but somehow interpreted the letter to mean that the government was at least keen on his Analytical Engine and should fund it, else he'd go overseas for funding. With this letter Babbage scored an audience with the Prime Minister, which didn't go very well, ending with him storming out of the interview.
Augusta Ada, the Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Lord Byron, met Babbage at a party when she was 17 and the two became friends. He gladly taught her about his work, and she translated the article from a Swiss journal on the Analytical Engine to English, adding her own comments and getting it published in a journal. Babbage wanted her article "Sketch of an Analytical Engine" to include an anonymous note describing his disputes with the Government, which he attempted to get the publishers to include without her knowledge. When they refused, Babbage asked Ada to withdraw the article, at which point she became upset, realising he was trying to use her article as a political tool. There is then some discussion about how much Ada really contributed to Babbage's work, citing Bruce Collier's notes that she is "the most overrated figure in the history of computing", and either mad or seemingly that way because of her drug abuse. Swade explains that it is not so much Ada who Collier is taking fault with, but the historians who exaggerate her contribution to celebrate her as a woman who succeeded in an area dominated by men at the time (mathematics). He also points out that some of the ideas she expressed in her article were not ideas Babbage had expressed before, and that it is a great pity she died so young, with her ideas never fully made known.
Babbage met up with Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard in 1855. They were visiting London from Sweden to display a machine they'd built, similar to the Difference Engine. Babbage welcomed the two, showed them his workshop and later helped them sell one of their machines to the Dudley Observatory in Albany, NY. Their machine caused Airy to change his mind about the usefulness of calculating machines, although ultimately the invention didn't do the Scheutzs much good; they both died bankrupt.
After 10 years break, Babbage at age 70 began working on his Analytical Engine again, finally deciding on the specifications. He also began a public attack on "vile and discordant music", which resulted in organ-grinders deliberately baiting him etc. (His autopsy revealed he had degeneration of the inner ear due to an arterial disease, so he wasn't just a party-pooper; the music really caused him some distress). Babbage died just before the age of 80, a bitter man plagued to the end by the organ-grinders' music and no working Analytical Engine.
A Modern Sequel
In 1985 Australian computer scientist Dr Allan Bromley approached London's Science Museum with the idea to build a working Difference Engine by 26 December 1991, to celebrate the bicentenary of Babbage's birth. It is an interesting story, with several unforeseen setbacks of a technical nature as well as more mundane ones like funding troubles, contractors going bankrupt and building the machine in the machine with public scrutiny. Swade was the person who ran the project, with the work and advice of several others, like Michael Wright, Neil Cossons and John Reid, also of the Museum, as well as Rhoden Partners and their design engineers Reg Crick and Barrie Holloway.
The deadline was shifted forward to June, rather than December, as part of the deal through which the final funding was made. A demonstration was "faked" to the press, after a worried Swade explained that the machine was almost ready, but they didn't want to risk breaking parts by running a real calculation at that date. The pressure was on.
The final chapter discusses whether Babbage's title of "the father of modern computing" is really very accurate. Not so much the fact that his machines weren't fully built in his time, but that they relied on the decimal system, not the binary number system. There is also a brief discussion of similar machines that were invented around the time, around the world.
The book is a comprehensive work on Charles Babbage and his work in general, so while the title is not totally accurate, it is apt, since the Difference Engine is the common link between the beginning and end parts of the book. It's also of note that the printing section of the Difference Engine is also part of the Analytical Engine, so by completing this, the Science Museum have validated not just Babbage's work on the Difference Engine, but also some of his work on the Analytical Engine. Hopefully someone will write another book or revision that details work done on the printing section; Swade actually seems to hint at this in the book ("But that is another tale for another day").
The diagrams and illustrations at the end of the book are great, but it might have been better to put them at the relevant parts of the book. For example, the pictures of Countess Lovelace in the chapter about her.
Conclusion
One review I saw states that this book is best for informed readers. I think "interested" readers would be more accurate. The book doesn't presume existing knowledge of Babbage, but if you are interested in the history of science, computing and the Difference Engine, you'll get a lot more out of it. The book is technical in parts but not overly so. It is generally more than readable, although I found the politics, both in Babbage's day and more recently, a bit tedious at times.
A common theme in the book is the set of difficulties both Babbage and Swade faced, not just technically, but also with funding, publicity and staffing. Many companies in modern times can relate to these, I'm sure! It is a sad story, because for all his brilliance and vision, Charles Babbage never lived to see his machines work and receive the accolades he deserved. That his Difference Engine has been successfully built today fittingly fulfills Babbage's vision.
Related Links
- Science Museum's Exhibit
- Printing Mechanism
- More on the Printing Mechanism
- Babbage's papers and Analytical Engine emulator
You can purchase this book at Fatbrain.
Re:Seems interesting (Score:1)
Damn (Score:2)
Re:Damn (Score:3, Flamebait)
Gibson's book is one of the very few science fiction books I stopped reading mid-stream because it was bloody *awful*. What a terrible, stilted writing style.
Re:Damn (Score:2)
Ugh. So much worse than his other books...
Pity, it might have been interesting if implemented properly...
Re:Damn (Score:1)
Re:Damn (Score:1)
How could anyone have *liked* this thing? Explain, please...
Re:Damn (Score:2, Informative)
Don't forget Bruce Sterling (Score:2)
And, if you read it, I'm sure you'll agree that the style is actually much more Sterling than Gibson. I find Sterling much "dryer" than Gibson (in their descriptive terms), although also very interesting.
MadCow.
Re:Damn (Score:2)
Re:Damn (Score:1)
So did I but can't agree with the 'great' bit
Agree with others who thought it was awful. I made it to the end because I thought it might get better. But it just got worse and worse. If you are thinking of buying the above book make sure you don't by the novel by mistake!
Re:Jon Katz Comment (from his article) (Score:1)
Obligatory (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyway, it's a fabulous book. To really understand it, you should first read a history like the The Difference Engine reviewed here, or you'll be a little lost.
Not Accidental Re:Obligatory (Score:2)
Go browse through old copies of Science Fiction Eye
Re:Obligatory (Score:2)
Truly horrible SF from Gibson (Score:2)
This was a view of things to come from Gibson after the Cyberpunk trilogy - mediocore SF redressing his old themes in new robes.
Re:Obligatory (Score:1)
Brits and failure to invest... (Score:5, Interesting)
Typical of the British establishment and their approach to science in general and computing in paticular. Babbage couldn't get funding for something that was decades ahead of his time. Come WWII, Alan Turing and Colossus the same is repeated again, the bloke who built Colossus was sent back to his day job and ordered not to do or say anything about what he'd built. Turing was persecuted for being gay. Transputers, ahead of their time, and failed to be funded by the goverment.
The tale of Babbage is a sad one, and even sadder is the abject failure of the British goverment to ever invest in high technology leading to the best ideas from Britain being developed abroad.
Bugger.
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:2, Interesting)
Venture capital in the UK has always been more risk averse that in the US, especially when it comes to anything remotely tech that they can't quite grasp.
The VCs started to come out of their shells a little during the .com feeding frenzy, but then look what happened - fingers burned by boo.com etc.
Trying to get VC funding for any kind of tech-based vernture in the UK is almost impossible at the moment.
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:2)
> risk averse that in the US
Venture captial *everywhere* has always been more
risk averse than that in the US. If I had to
pick the US's one biggest advantage over the
rest of the world, that'd probably be it.
Chris Mattern
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:3, Informative)
On Babbage:
He was a polymath. He had fingers in half a dozen differnent pies. Like many true geniuses from history he was interested in many things and that meant that he had a tendancy to stop projects and go and work on whatever new thing he was interested in. That said, what he was proposing, while it may sound obvious to us, was pretty radical (and very costly) in his day. It's a bit like fusion research today, expensive, and hard to get right.
Collosus:
The guy you are thinking of is called Tommy Flowers. He originally worked for the post office (which in those days ran the phone system). He was the brains behind Collosus. The reason he had to keep quite was the same reason that everyone who worked at station X had to. What they worked on was top secret. This had nothing to do with lack of funding. Much of the developement of the modern computer was done in British universities (especially Manchester).
Transputer:
Inmos was a private company. It's failure had little to do with the govenment. It was taken over by another company who insisted that it use a standardised design tool. it wasn't until late in the developemnet phase that a fault in the tool (something to do with timing calculations) came to light. This set back the developement by many month (if not years) and killed the company. This is what is happening in Transmeta, great, innovative tech, let down by the company that created it.
It the sad fact that many revolutionary indeviduals (i.e. those who were different, shock horror) have been persecuted or died penniless. Turing was a particularly sad case, considering what he did for the war effort, same goes for other homosexuals from history, Oscar Wilde being the prime example. The world hasn't changed that much though, people who are *different* are still persecuted, it just tends to be less obvious.
P.s.
Collosus has actually been rebuilt, see here [btinternet.com]. Sadly Tommy Flowers died soon after it was built (at the age of 92 I think).
The inmos thing might be a bit off but that is the main gist of what happened. of course if anyone who worked at inmos around that time could correct me that would be good...
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:2)
This is what is happening in Transmeta, great, innovative tech, let down by the company that created it.
The technology is innovative, granted, but I fail to see what's so great about it and why the company would be at fault for it's failing. It's slow, and simply not that much better than competing solutions. How did the "company" let it down? Not all innovative experiments pay off, and Transmeta is failing because of a bad idea.
Now, you might say that the company is not targeting Crusoe at the right markets (such as the embedded market), but to tell you the truth, we don't know that they haven't tried.
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:1)
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:1)
I agree that Britain has a terrible record on high-tech investment, but this wasn't true in Babbage's case. The man was a technical genius, no doubt, but as a project manager he was a disaster area and most of the blame for not delivering a working model can be squarely laid at his door.
The government funded him lavishly (Babbage had excellent political contacts) and received nothing in return but a series of broken promises. Babbage retaliated by picking fights, holding grudges, and generally being a pain in the neck. A report on the Difference Engine concluded, that it was essentially unnecessary, and it would be far cheaper to continue to produce mathematical tables by hand.
This quote best sums up the tragedy, I think:
Re:Brits and failure to invest... (Score:3, Insightful)
It is certianly true that later in British history a giant damp cloth was put on commerical exploitation of technological innovation, stemming from:
1. General skepticism being part of the British psyche.
2. Powerful vested interests, particularly Unions opposing it.
3. A weak, restricted free enterprise system.
4. A long running shift to more socialist government that lasted from the 20's to the 80's
Harrison (the clock maker) was unfortunate in that he had one select special interest group (astronomers) set against him, and that he was a victim of predjudice against the middle classes (as said before, advances in science were meant to come from wealthy gentleman scientists with labs in their country houses).
But, in general, Britain from 1700 - 1850 was a thriving, almost entirely unregulated, capitalist country, where a great many new machines were invented and sold all over the world (milling machines, weaving machines, steam engines, stuff like that).
Just another reason... (Score:1)
Re:Just another reason... (Score:2)
However, if you want a replica, the machine company that Swade contracted with can make you one for somewhere around 100,000 Pounds (Brisish money, not weight.) That's also covered in the book.
If you're interested enough to want a difference engine, then you'll probably like the book.
Re:Just another reason... (Score:1)
Re:Just another reason... (Score:1)
Re:Just another reason... (Score:1)
100,000 pounds weight might not be far wrong as the Analytical engine, if built, would have been a little bit too large for a standard PC mini-tower case. It would have needed a steam engine for power if it had been built in the Victorian era.
The source for all these facts is the Science Museum web-site (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/)
Demoronise (Score:2, Insightful)
All these tragic figures! (Score:3, Insightful)
You know, I learned some of these names in school, I'd heard of Alan Turing but until recently I knew very little about him, ditto for Babbage. They kind of glaze over them in school in a few sentences and then you tend to forget about it. I think I would've been much more intrigued by this kind of thing back in school if they would've made more effort to include their life stories. I've been reading small biographies about Turing, and now I want to read about this fellow too -- not because I'm particularly interested in math or computer science, but just because they are great stories of interesting lives. Why do they tell us about the lives of these boring writers like Fitzgerald and then neglect to mention these really interesting and unique computer science people? Ugh. Another reason I hated high school!
In fact, I was so fascinated when I heard the story of Alan Turing that I've been working on a drawing of a Turing machine the last two weeks. I may need to check out this book afterwards, and see if I'm inclined to do another drawing like it. Anyone else with stories of brilliant, tormented mathematician-types, feel free to englighten me. :)
More information on Babbage (and a bit on Turing). (Score:1)
I've just been reading "The Code Breakers" by James Kahn, which although a bit dated in some parts, is a fascinating read of Cryptography VS Cryptanalysis throughout the ages.
Babbage was also into cryptology - both the creation of ciphers and the cracking of others. For example, the famous "Playfair" cipher was actually invented by him but named after one of his friends who was trying to promote its use. IIRC, he also used to have fun deciphering private messages in the newspaper personal columns (often involving love affairs in the prudish Victorian era).
Simon
RE: Kama Sutra (Score:1)
Re:All these tragic figures! (Score:2, Offtopic)
Eventually, sadly, Turing committed suicide by injecting cyanide into an apple & eating it. The original version of Apple's logo was, it is said, Turing's apple, with a bite out of one side and the stripes of the gay pride flag.
Like I say, apparently this is just a coincidence and Apple was paying no such homage to Turing, but I still think it fits pretty well, & wish it were true. Oh well...
A couple more books of similar figures (Score:1)
Richard Feynman (physicist, not exactly tormented, but still brilliant)
"The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" - about Paul Erdos (who was tormented and brilliant).
Sorry, no ISDN numbers or links, but they should be easy enough to find.
Your wish is my command. (Score:2)
Lady Ada, daughter of Lord Byron, coworker and lover of Babbage. She was the world's first programmer; invented concepts such as loops and subroutines. And yes, this would be the one that the American DoD named the Ada programming language after, although I think that's a terrible language and a disgrace to her memory. :-)
IIRC -- and I'm not sure that I do, feel free to correct me, people -- she suffered from depression and substance abuse. Eventually died of cancer.
Really tragic story. There are some excellent books on her.
Re:Your wish is my command. (Score:1)
Thanks! I have written down all these names in my idea notebook to look up in the near future (your suggestion and the others!) :)
Re:All these tragic figures! (Score:1)
A great read :
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth -- Paul Hoffman; Paperback
Cheers.
Why thank you (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Demoronize (Score:1)
Steam Powered Everything (Score:4, Funny)
In a bit too much depth on that review? (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering the subject of the book is a complete overview of Babbage's life and the 'sequel' engine, and the review just compacted it all down, it feels more like Cliff's Notes than a book review...
I never really liked when book/movie reviews spend half the time just summarizing the plot. I'm more keen on how the reviewer felt the objective of the book was met or not met, what techniques were used in the book's structure, and so on.
Longitude? (Score:5, Insightful)
Both men spent their entire lives fighting the British Royal Academy; both worked into their 80s locked in a struggle to create a device deemed "impossible to build". The only difference is that Harrison did succeed in building his device and changing the world; Babbage merely came tantalizingly close. Anyone interested in the story of Babbage should also check out the story of Harrison, told in a very short award winning paperback called Longitude [amazon.com] by Dava Sobel.
You don't have to buy it from Amazon - your local library should have it - but the link was convenient.
Re:Longitude? (Score:1)
thanks! (Score:2)
Thanks, Timmy!
William Gibson... (Score:1)
Every time I see Babbage's name... (Score:3, Funny)
"On two occasions I have been asked (by members of Parliament), 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
Re:Every time I see Babbage's name... (Score:2)
Along with the following quote (not Babbage):
Re:Every time I see Babbage's name... (Score:1)
Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.
Re:Every time I see Babbage's name... (Score:2)
Re:Every time I see Babbage's name... (Score:1)
> "I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
Apparently, he didn't report to a middle manager.
Its the programming, stupid! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Its the programming, stupid! (Score:2, Informative)
Or was that a forward looking statement that you hope they one day construct an Analytical Engine?
Regarding the book... I just finished this book a few days ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the quick debunking of the role of Ada Lovelace in computing.
Building a similar device... (Score:3, Insightful)
However, I always look for information on Babbage - so it surprised me the other day to be browsing at a local Bookstar and seeing this book - I had to have it, as my collection is "sparse" when it comes to Babbage (there really isn't much out there about his machines, at least in paper form - Fourmilab is actually the best resource online). A quick thumbing through told me this was a book worth getting. It was actually kinda strange finding that book, because I also managed to stumble upon the only copy they had of Leonardo's Notebooks Volume 1 (I already had Volume 2), which is all of his treatises about art and the human form. Anyhow, I purchased the Babbage book and started reading it last night.
But have you ever given thought to what it would take to build a mechanical calculating machine? It is really quite a complex task. Even if you had a machine shop, it would be a daunting endevour. I have always wondered if it were possible to build such a machine using Lego. I have never really taken the idea past the conceptual stage. I know about the (MIT?) tinkertoy based tic-tac-toe "computer" - so building a computer from a toy system is feasible, in some manner. Lego seems perfectly suited.
I only know of one individual who has managed to go from concept to at least partial reality, using Lego:
Lego Computing [spesh.com]
More images (these are better) [spesh.com]
I have had email conversations with this individual, and have gained a little insight into how he is doing things - but it has been a long while since I have emailed him - so I don't know if he has gotten any further, or what. He seems to have some idea of what it would take, though.
Does anyone know of any other similar construction efforts?
Also, if anyone cares - on themes.org I have a Babbage "tribute" wallpaper...
Re:Building a similar device... (Score:1)
Cluster (Score:1)
Re:Cluster (Score:1)
-j
Pioneer (Score:3, Funny)
ENIAC is base 10 (Score:1, Interesting)
What a peculiar assertion! ENIAC is base 10, does that mean it is not an ancestor of modern electronic computers?
where to get it, and another view (Score:2, Insightful)
First off, I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. Read most of it, but didn't bother finishing it. I really wanted this to have been a better book. I like reading about technology (and also write about it); and I like reading about history (including Victorian-era England).
It wasn't the subject matter but the writing style that put me off. Swade tells two stories: Babbage's and his own. Both are told sequentially, and neither is told in a particularly exciting way. Swade is a precise reporter, writing clear and understandable prose. But that's not enough to hook a reader.
Swade never communicated to me any real feel for how the machines work(ed). The plates show various pictures, but I would have liked to get some kind of more useful visuals that show what gets turned and what moves as a result, and how it all gets processed within. Ditto for how the things would be programmed. Yes, Jacquard looms and all that, but what did Babbage have in mind for instructions for his machine? I never found out.
I lost interest in this one towards the end, and just put it down for a couple of weeks; I flipped through to the end, but lack of detail bothered me. I wanted to see pictures of the pieces being made for the reproduction, and read about what tools and techniques were used. What was it like to touch? What did it feel like to put together or take apart?
All in all, a disatisfying read.
BTW, your local public library is a great place to go for great books!
Give a hoot - read a book!
babbage (Score:1)