<P> The phrase computing machine gradually gave way, after the late 1940s, to just computer as the onset of electronic digital machinery became common . These computers were able to perform the calculations that were performed by the previous human clerks . </P> <P> Since the values stored by digital machines were not bound to physical properties like analog devices, a logical computer, based on digital equipment, was able to do anything that could be described "purely mechanical ." The theoretical Turing Machine, created by Alan Turing, is a hypothetical device theorized in order to study the properties of such hardware . </P> <P> Charles Babbage is often regarded as one of the first pioneers of computing . Beginning in the 1810s, Babbage had a vision of mechanically computing numbers and tables . Putting this into reality, Babbage designed a calculator to compute numbers up to 8 decimal points long . Continuing with the success of this idea, Babbage worked to develop a machine that could compute numbers with up to 20 decimal places . By the 1830s, Babbage had devised a plan to develop a machine that could use punched cards to perform arithmetical operations . The machine would store numbers in memory units, and there would be a form of sequential control . This means that one operation would be carried out before another in such a way that the machine would produce an answer and not fail . This machine was to be known as the "Analytical Engine", which was the first true representation of what is the modern computer . </P> <P> Ada Lovelace (Augusta Ada Byron) is credited as the pioneer of computer programming and is regarded as a mathematical genius, a result of the mathematically heavy tutoring regimen her mother assigned to her as a young girl . Lovelace began working with Charles Babbage as an assistant while Babbage was working on his "Analytical Engine", the first mechanical computer . During her work with Babbage, Ada Lovelace became the designer of the first computer algorithm, which had the ability to compute Bernoulli numbers . Moreover, Lovelace's work with Babbage resulted in her prediction of future computers to not only perform mathematical calculations, but also manipulate symbols, mathematical or not . While she was never able to see the results of her work, as the "Analytical Engine" was not created in her lifetime, her efforts in later years, beginning in the 1840s, did not go unnoticed . </P>

Who is credited with being the originator of the computer