[Worldbuilding] Divergent, retro and other 'not of this world' Computers and Software

[Anaraxes]

For a setting with analog computers, you're going to want some doubletalk dealing with problems in error control and propagation. (If you're the sort to worry about such things, that is; otherwise, just blast off and show the Overlord of Jupiter a thing or two.) All of the input to an analog computer is valid, and produces variations in the output. One of the virtues-from-necessity of digital logic is that it tolerances a lot of variance in the input, as ultimately it has to be a "0" or "1". There's no such thing as a 0.001 or 0.01 to worry about.

Another advantage was of course simply miniaturization, transistors to ICs. We happened to figure out how to make tiny digital logic circuits cheaply, so they could be employed in massive numbers. We still don't know how to make tiny gears and cams. The alternate tech setting could either settle for less complexity in the computers, or some more handwavium.

The third advantage that comes to mind is ease of reprogrammability. This doesn't matter for computers dedicated to one job, like fire control on WWII battleships. But it's vital if you have general-purpose computers so "there's an app for that". Sculpting custom cams for each equation in every problem won't scale well. So you might invent something programmable, or have massive computers with lots of special execution units, or perhaps some T-1000 liquid metal will come in handy.