Before we had digital electronic computers, we had analog electronic computers, and before then, we had mechanical analog computers. These were very different kinds of machine to our current computers: based on wholly different principles, and using completely different kinds of circuits, they were nevertheless genuinely useful general-purpose computing devices, used for everything from tide prediction to flight control.

Because they can operate with blinding speed at incredibly low-power, these analog technologies are making a comeback, in domains like digital radio and machine intelligence. A new generation of chips is making analog processors as easy to use as a graphics processor.

What do these machines do that's so different from digital computers? What are their limits? How do you program them? In this talk, Jules will explain the principles, describe some basic programs, and demonstrate a real analog computer solving some real problems.