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Does anyone know what "should repeat" means? Was the machine capable of repeating or does this mean the human operator needed to do the repeating?
Holy shit. I got shivers the moment I realized Sinclair actually finds and fixes a bug from the very first program written in 1843. In her “diagram of development,” Lovelace gives the fourth operation as v5 / v4. But the correct ordering here is v4 / v5. 1843! I was recently at the Musee des arts et metiers in Paris, and they have several original Pascalines on display. So many marvels packed into a very tight space,…
What else would you recommend checking out in Paris by way of museums?
Holy shit. I got shivers the moment I realized Sinclair actually finds and fixes a bug from the very first program written in 1843. In her “diagram of development,” Lovelace gives the fourth operation as v5 / v4. But the correct ordering here is v4 / v5. 1843! I was recently at the Musee des arts et metiers in Paris, and they have several original Pascalines on display. So many marvels packed into a very tight space,…
> she made groups of operations and in the text of her note specified when they should repeat. Does anyone know what "should repeat" means? Was the machine capable of repeating or does this mean the human operator needed to do the repeating?
This is a great article, and I also found myself shuddering to think what would happen if the world ever saw the first program I ever wrote (whatever that was).
For me, that's no big deal: 10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD" Even the horrible crap I wrote as an novice is probably less embarrassing to me that the stuff I wrote as a journeyman who shoulda known better. Thankfully, the most embarrassing things are, like, spending 2 days configuring postfix and not realizing that I could just read the log files and it tells me specifically what isn't working. A valuable lesson, but embarrass…
mov ah, 2
mov dl, 7
int 21
int 20
> she made groups of operations and in the text of her note specified when they should repeat. Does anyone know what "should repeat" means? Was the machine capable of repeating or does this mean the human operator needed to do the repeating?
It's really just a series of mathematical steps with a store of values in between. Notions that would have clearly taken it from being a series of mathematical steps, to a program, such as branching, looping, or jumping are left completely unspecified. So her 'loop' was specified literally as "here follows a repetition of operations 13-23".
In other words, "should repeat" is left an as exercise to the reader.
Holy shit. I got shivers the moment I realized Sinclair actually finds and fixes a bug from the very first program written in 1843. In her “diagram of development,” Lovelace gives the fourth operation as v5 / v4. But the correct ordering here is v4 / v5. 1843! I was recently at the Musee des arts et metiers in Paris, and they have several original Pascalines on display. So many marvels packed into a very tight space,…
What else would you recommend checking out in Paris by way of museums?
Quiet and completely excellent, The Museum of Heritage and Architecture. https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-culture/musee-ci...
The Army Museum is worth a visit - it is interesting to see a less Anglo centric view of the wars, particularly WW1. The paintings are deeply grim - not ideal if you have young kids. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_de_l%27Armée
The Museum of the Middle Ages is currently being renovated but is well regarded. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_de_Cluny_–_Musée_natio...
Probably a candidate for best museum in the world, the Louvre is a great way to completely waste a day with massive crowds, sore feet, food and water shortages, closed exhibits, intense heat and even more crowds. Get a map ahead of time and check that the things you want to see aren’t closed before you go.
Holy shit. I got shivers the moment I realized Sinclair actually finds and fixes a bug from the very first program written in 1843. In her “diagram of development,” Lovelace gives the fourth operation as v5 / v4. But the correct ordering here is v4 / v5. 1843! I was recently at the Musee des arts et metiers in Paris, and they have several original Pascalines on display. So many marvels packed into a very tight space,…
Is this the first documented instance of finding a bug in a computer program? That should be a more well known milestone in my opinion.
It's also debated whether these were bugs from Ada or transcription errors. But, yes, it does seem like an interesting milestone
> she made groups of operations and in the text of her note specified when they should repeat. Does anyone know what "should repeat" means? Was the machine capable of repeating or does this mean the human operator needed to do the repeating?
The London Science Museum built a fully working Difference Engine, to Victorian tolerances so it could have actually worked.
I heard of a project to build a modern working replica but I don't know if anything ever came of it.
> she made groups of operations and in the text of her note specified when they should repeat. Does anyone know what "should repeat" means? Was the machine capable of repeating or does this mean the human operator needed to do the repeating?
You can see the exact 'program' here [1]. It's really just a series of mathematical steps with a store of values in between. Notions that would have clearly taken it from being a series of mathematical steps, to a program, such as branching, looping, or jumping are left completely unspecified. So her 'loop' was specified literally as "here follows a repetition of operations 13-23". In other words, "should repeat" is…
