The first mechanical computer was designed by Charles Babbage, an English mathematician and inventor, in the 19th century. His initial creation was the Difference Engine, a mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions, but the more revolutionary design was the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine, conceived around 1833, is considered the first general- purpose mechanical computer. It was designed to be fully programmable using punched cards, with components analogous to modern computers such as a mill (arithmetic logic unit), a store (memory), a reader, and a printer. Although Babbage never completed the construction of the Analytical Engine due to technological and funding limitations, his design laid the conceptual foundation for modern computing