God, another reminder of my age. At school we used knitting needles to make a computer based on Babbage's, with data cards having holes punched in them to represent at various places yes/no,

Makes me think of the old rotating drum music boxes.
On Steroids

Babbage - Definitely a man ahead of his time. Some months ago, I read Doron Swade's book, "The Difference Engine : Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer", which tells the story of how the British Science Museum came to build the replicas - it turned out to be a challenge even for 20th century technology. William Gibson wrote a novel, also titled "The Difference Engine", which is set in a world where Babbage succeeded and ushered in a Victorian-era computer revolution. Both books are well worth reading.