Charles Babbage as an algorithmic thinker

While the career of the Charles Babbage (1791-1871) shows a remarkable range of interests, strong threads bind together several of the principal ones: algorithmic thinking, with intimate links to algebra and to semiotics. The links connect especially his mathematical researches in functional equations with his work on mathematical tables and on calculating machines, but they are evident also in some of his social and industrial concerns. Evidence is presented to show that Babbage was consciously aware of at least some of these links. Attention to them casts light upon his achievements.<>