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Article: Oh, what a Web we punch.(input output)(Joseph Jacquard's punched-card controller for textile looms)(Column)
- Article from:
- Mechanical Engineering-CIME
- Article date:
- December 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Most mechanical engineers, if they are involved in computer applications, will sooner or later read a statement to the effect that Joseph Jacquard's punched-card controller for textile looms was the "beginning of the computer age." The remark is usually accompanied by a bit of 19th-century history, but no explanation as to how he used a punched card to control a powerful machine like a loom in the absence of electronics.
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After spending a couple of months exploring that question, I discovered Jacquard's Web by James Essinger. This is such a technically complete and historically significant study that I was disappointed to realize ...