There are lots of analog computers.
They aren’t used nearly as much as they used to be, being replaced by digital ones, but they do exist.
The thing about analog computers is that they tend to be narrowly specialized for a particular task.
This is an analog mechanical computer that regulates the air/fuel mixture on a gasoline engine:
We call them carburetors.
This is an electronic analog computer that does the same thing:
It’s an engine control unit from a 1980s Bosch fuel injection system.
Both of those have been replaced with digital computers.
This is an analog computer that computes the correct exposure for a film camera:
Today, this is built into your camera or phone.
This is also an analog computer:
Slide rules like this were primary computation tools of engineers and scientists between some time in the 17th century and all the way to the 1970s.
They also sometimes were cool mechanical devices:
The specific functions of these devices are an app on your phone now. More broadly, they have been replaced with specialist software running on general purpose digital computers.
Analog computers today are mostly the province of hobbyists and not very common. They do exist, though.
This is a modern day analog computer made by a German company called Anabrid
It is meant to be an educational tool.
Writer: Malik S.
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