The Difference Engine (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—alternate history
- Time of Work: 1855
- Setting: London, England
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Alternate history
- Subjects: Gambling, Nineteenth century, England or English people, London, Information science or systems, Computers
- Locales: London, England
The Plot
The Difference Engine’s five iterations recall the repetition of subroutines in a computer program. They provide different perspectives on a sequence of events in the year 1855. Charles Babbage has successfully built his difference engine, bringing into being a steam-based information technology. Because the difference engine, a type of computer, historically was not completed, this event becomes the pivot of the alternate history. The plot concerns a set of punch cards created by Ada Byron as a gambling system.
In Iteration One, an aged Sybil Gerard,...
[The entire page is 939 words long]
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