The word is used by Ada Lovelace, "the world's first programmer" in one of her treatises on the potential power of Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Mr Babbage's invention puts an engine in the place of the computer; the question is set to the instrument, or the instrument is set to the question, and by simply giving it motion the solution is wrought, and a string of answers is exhibited.

While this may not be quite the sense asked for, it reinforces the point that looking for a strictly constrained definition of a term that conveys much of its original non-computing meaning in the contemporary syntactical usage may be an interesting exercise but also possibly a bit of a wild goose chase.

The word is used in an 1834 treatise on the potential power of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine.

Mr Babbage's invention puts an engine in the place of the computer; the question is set to the instrument, or the instrument is set to the question, and by simply giving it motion the solution is wrought, and a string of answers is exhibited.

While this may not be quite the answer asked for, its usage in a related sense at the beginning of computing history could mean that looking for a strictly constrained definition of a term that conveys much of its original non-computing meaning in the contemporary syntactical usage may be an interesting but ultimately indeterminate exercise.

The word is used by Ada Lovelace, "the world's first programmer" in one of her treatises on the potential power of Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Mr Babbage's invention puts an engine in the place of the computer; the question is set to the instrument, or the instrument is set to the question, and by simply giving it motion the solution is wrought, and a string of answers is exhibited.

While this may not be quite the sense asked for, it reinforces the point that looking for a strictly constrained definition of a term that conveys much of its original non-computing meaning in the contemporary syntactical usage may be an interesting exercise but also possibly a bit of a wild goose chase.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Review/Volume_59/Babbage%27s_Calculating_Engine

The word is used by Ada Lovelace, "the world's first programmer" in one of her treatises on the potential power of Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Mr Babbage's invention puts an engine in the place of the computer; the question is set to the instrument, or the instrument is set to the question, and by simply giving it motion the solution is wrought, and a string of answers is exhibited.

While this may not be quite the sense asked for, it reinforces the point that looking for a strictly constrained definition of a term that conveys much of its original non-computing meaning in the contemporary syntactical usage may be an interesting exercise but also possibly a bit of a wild goose chase.