Babbage&#x27;s Difference Engine was later built by others shortly after, producing log tables. The original idea was Müller&#x27;s who preceeded Babbage. Babbage produced a workable implementation.<p>The mechanical method of finite differences was built in many successor machines, mechanical calculators are myriad til the 1980&#x27;s.<p>The methods were also used by the original computers, rooms of people computing parts of a sum - these very methods were used at Bletchly Park during the war.<p>Turing had read Babbages writings. The methods of mechanical calculation informed his Bombe machine.<p>The Analytical engine though never built directly inspired most early computer pioneers just to believe it was possible.<p>Lovelace&#x27;s vision of automatic computation of numbers representing algebras, thoughts &amp; music - directly inspired Alan Turing and A.I.<p>Punch cards were used in most early computers but this idea originates much earlier with Jacquard and his programmable weaving looms.<p>Babbage also proposed a packet switching semaphore network on church steeples, never built but his exposition of the efficiencies of packet switching was part of its history.