Babbage invented the concept of the programmable computer, Zuse built a programmable electronic computer, which could later be shown to be turing-complete. Those things are pretty subtle, and the 'national' version is always the least subtle, I guess ;)
Leonardo da Vinci also invented tanks and helicopters, and then it took a couple of hundred years to build some.
"Absolutely would have worked" is probably the closest you can get to modern software development ;)
Or more seriously put: It's a concept for a machine with 55k moving parts and powered by a steam engine. "Would work" is probably a bold statement considering how far off theoretical designs always are from the engineering reality, by all experience.
"We have been pecking away at Babbage’s original design drawings for some while now and have found with regret that we are unable to reverse engineer a coherent and consistent understanding of the Analytical Engine from the mechanical drawings alone. "
Leonardo da Vinci also invented tanks and helicopters, and then it took a couple of hundred years to build some.