The machines arrive

The important change was that one machine could follow different programs.

A machine built for one fixed purpose does the same job every time. A programmable computer can follow one set of instructions, then another.

You have already seen how that works. The program itself is made from patterns, just like the information it works with.

Change those instructions and the same machine can do different work.

That made computers feel like more than calculating tools. They could take a problem, follow a series of steps, and produce an answer.

And that changed the question people asked about them.