User Experience 29-34
Six more pages, and apologies for another double-page spread- click for bigger. Further apologies for the format which will become obvious when you do so..
NOTES S??ON NOTES S??ON NOTES S??ON NOTES S??ON
The Loop page was originally designed for iPad, in which format I assure you it is EXTREMELY CLEVER, and I’ve been puzzled enough about how to adapt it for the printed page.. adapting it in a clever way for the web was one too many for me I’m afraid! Even its present form is a work in progress…
Babbage’s Analytical Engine allows for both branching conditionals– the if-this-then-thats (previously in User Experience) and loops, he described the initial glimmerings for its development from the idea of the Difference Engine ‘eating it’s own tail’.
The dialogue between George and Babbage is a pastiche of some of their writings– Babbage describes his Universal Language in his autobiography; George was talking about forms of language and poetry in an unpublished essay (you can find it in the collection edited by A.S. Byatt, if you’re so inclined). Babbage declared his annoyance with the existence of different languages and the subsequent loss of efficiency to friction at the Proceedings of the International Statistical Congress. If you’re interested in Universal Languages I much enjoyed In the Land of Invented Languages, which has a large section on Wilkins, mentioned by Babbage in the autobiographical except above. His spatial, modular, symbol language reminded me of Babbage’s mechanical notation.
The Mill is what Babbage called the CPU of his engine. It’s depiction here is quite incorrect, to judge from his diagrams the middle of the Mill would be one of the safest places to stand in the whole engine. Just another example of the misinformation shamefully promulgated by this comic.
Speaking of misinformation, I am given to understand (though I’m a bit fuzzy on it to be honest) that the beautiful yet deadly carry arms than almost decapitate George were not used in the Analytical Engine, having been superseded by a more efficient design. Which is a shame as while they might cost some fractions of a second in calculation, surely the contribute enough sheer joy to offset the expense? You can see them in operation in the model of the adding mechanism here– you can see how the flange nudges the little widget when it goes past 9, putting it in ‘ready’ position to be kocked over one more unit by the carry arm- erm writing that out has given me some sympathy with the inadequacies of language to convey complex mechanical movements..
Difference Engine Adder, test 1, Back View from Sydney Padua on Vimeo.
Oh quick addendum! There is a Ada Lovelace Conference coming up! Conveying the call for papers:
