Yes, it is quite
informative to (re-)discover what our "geek ancestors" were doing with computers ... back in the days when such computers could not actually be built.
Most interestingly, some folks have actually
built Babbage's "engines," either in real hardware or in simulations, and found that they actually
worked.
"Yes, we stand upon the shoulders of true giants." Pioneers who used gears, punched cards, relays
(complete with moths == "bugs" in them), vacuum tubes, transistors ...
I had the
enormous privilege of actually attending a presentation by Commodore
(nee Rear Admiral) Grace Hopper,
a.k.a. "Lady
COBOL," at the college that I was then attending. One of my
most prized possessions is a "nanosecond." An eleven-inch piece of wire, which Adm. Hopper
herself(!) placed into my (oh-so-
-ing
young-and-
stupid-then) hand.
(Ahem ...) To
all of the present generation ...
("kids!") 
... I just have to shake my head and say:
"So sorry that you were not born yet. You missed it, that's all ..." Those were times that might never again be repeated. They were times when "a new and world-changing form of technology was being birthed right before your eyes," and you were there to witness it, even though you didn't yet have the benefit of hindsight by which to
(now) consider its implications.
Of course, I
fully expect you to "blow me away," now ... laughing
(with the hindsight that one day you ... (sigh) alone ... will possess ... at the
absurdity of the words that I just wrote. I don't
really think that
I was the only one who was privileged "to live in interesting times," and, mind you
I'm not dead yet!
"As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.[1][2][3]"
