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Retrocomputing

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    I don't know the answer, but I suspect a marketing department had more to do with it than the technicians. How can we make it sound sexy? Hmm, maybe we can give it a steam-punk vibe. Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 12:43
  • “Inference engine” has been in use since at least 1986. Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 13:28
  • Note the Analytical Engine was supposed to be programmed - Thus at least would have contained "software". Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 13:36
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    I guess if you have software engineers it makes sense that they could write software engines. Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 19:18
  • 2
    The first reference of engine regarding software that I'd ever heard was regarding ID Software's Castle Wolfenstein. I remember that the "graphics engine" was licensed to the makers of subsequent first-person three-dimensional games, like Quake, Doom, et. al. It would have been the very early 1990's. Commented May 22, 2017 at 18:50