
The Strange Victorian Computer That Generated Latin Verse - benbreen
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strange-victorian-computer-that-generated-latin-verse
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Jun8
"The number of possible permutations the Eureka can run through is a dizzying
26 million."

It seems to me that rather than being a programmable computer, it is more
similar Llull's _Ars Combinatoria_
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull#Mechanical_aspect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull#Mechanical_aspect))

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JoeAltmaier
Amazing mechanics in the 1800's. Probably a mistake to call it a 'programmable
computer'. No indication that it could be programmed at all.

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ghurtado
The article mentions the term "proto-computer", which would be more
appropriate.

Given that the "Enigma Machine" was indeed a machine (and not a computer) I
think the term "computer" is a bit over the top for this particular machine.

For me, the most interesting part of the article was the way that the inventor
looked in the 1800s. He was far ahead of his time even with regards to his own
personal looks.

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sandworm101
The disheveled artist-inventor look comes and goes in a 20/30-year cycle.
Today it's brogrammers, in the 90s it was grunge. Before that it was hippies.
There is nothing new in fashion.

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Isamu
>The Eureka was one of the forerunners of the programmable computer, invented
by Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace

The article does not claim it was programmable.

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Pfhreak
This is very reminiscent of what many early software developers build -- a
simple program to construct meaningful random sentences from collections of
words. Interesting to juxtapose the two, mentally.

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justinlardinois
So this is essentially the original Chomskybot?

