82,892
edits
Talk:Reg tech: Difference between revisions
→Digitisation of information: a history
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
===Digitisation of information: a history=== | ===Digitisation of information: a history=== | ||
In his fabulous 1970s television series Connections, {{author|James Burke}} traced the origins of the modern computer back to the [[Jacquard loom]], the revolutionary silk-weaving machine Joseph Marie Jacquard perfected in 1804. Jacquard used removable punch-cards to “program” the weaving process, in much the same way a self-playing piano reads a punched card to pay a tune. | In his fabulous 1970s television series [[Connections]], {{author|James Burke}} traced the origins of the modern computer back to the [[Jacquard loom]], the revolutionary silk-weaving machine Joseph Marie Jacquard perfected in 1804. Jacquard used removable punch-cards to “program” the weaving process, in much the same way a self-playing piano reads a punched card to pay a tune. | ||
Jacquard’s loom was an important waystation in the development of programmability and plasticity of machines. For the first time, one could change a machine’s output without having to physically re-engineer the machine itself. | Jacquard’s loom was an important waystation in the development of programmability and plasticity of machines. For the first time, one could change a machine’s output without having to physically re-engineer the machine itself. | ||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
Jacquard’s machine offered more than just flexibility. It separated the information comprising a given pattern from the machine that made it. It was printed on the cards. Information — binary data needing no intelligence, interpretation or skill to process — was suddenly portable. Jacquard could send instructions for the latest weave from Paris to Lyon by popping a box of cards on one of those new french mail coaches,<ref>Je suis obligé, la Wikipèdia.</ref> without having to transport a bloody great automated loom down there with it. | Jacquard’s machine offered more than just flexibility. It separated the information comprising a given pattern from the machine that made it. It was printed on the cards. Information — binary data needing no intelligence, interpretation or skill to process — was suddenly portable. Jacquard could send instructions for the latest weave from Paris to Lyon by popping a box of cards on one of those new french mail coaches,<ref>Je suis obligé, la Wikipèdia.</ref> without having to transport a bloody great automated loom down there with it. | ||
So to the stages of computerisation of human tools. | So, to the stages of computerisation of human tools. It is a slow process of extracting the instructions from the the basic engineering of the tool — the “[[substrate]]”. | ||
“A device for reliably carrying out a defined function” is not a bad general definition for a “machine” and there were certainly machines before 1804: the innovation was to abstract the instructions from the basic engineering of the tool. You cannot extract the “instructions” built into the engineering of a scythe (when force is applied, use sharp blade to cut wheat) or a water-wheel blades are set at an angle such that when wind blows or, water flows, it pushes blade sideways and rotates the wheel. | “A device for reliably carrying out a defined function” is not a bad general definition for a “machine” and there were certainly machines before 1804: the innovation was to abstract the instructions from the basic engineering of the tool. You cannot extract the “instructions” built into the engineering of a scythe (when force is applied, use sharp blade to cut wheat) or a water-wheel blades are set at an angle such that when wind blows or, water flows, it pushes blade sideways and rotates the wheel. | ||