Building on all that had gone before, this fundamental concept led to today's electronic, stored program digital computer. To wind up, I would like to return to the words of Charles Babbage.

He said, "One half century may probably elapse before anyone without those aids which I leave behind me will attempt so unpromising a task. If, unwarned by my example, any man shall undertake and shall succeed in really constructing an engine embodying in itself the whole of the executive department of mathematical analysis upon different principles, or by simpler mathematical means, I have no fear of leaving my reputation in his charge, for he alone will be fully able to appreciate the nature of my efforts and the value of their results."

It took more than half a century, but today there is a new industry that pays homage to Charles Babbage.