rixxNov 2, 2021

You know how the Eiffel Tower won the Grand Prize at the 1889 World Fair? Well, it had to share the glory with a book.

Not any book: A book ENTIRELY WOVEN IN SILK.

You heard right. And nerds, get this: All pages of this book were produced on the Jacquard loom in 1889, using thousands (200k-500k) of punch cards. Only 50-60 copies were made. >

Show threadTui22
@rixx That’s incredible. But weaving was the first form of programming, so it was arguably one of the earliest (if not the earliest) digital books. Amazing!
Nov 1, 2022 at 9:51amWeb
Show threadrixxNov 1, 2022
@Tui22 literally said nearly the same in the next part, haha. Not sure I agree with "digital", though.
Show threadTui22Nov 1, 2022
@rixx Fingers (digits) wove silk. 😉
Show threadrixxNov 1, 2022
@Tui22 Then how is not every knit cloth programmed? You can of course make any word mean anything, but that's a bit of a silly game.
Show threadTui22Nov 1, 2022

@rixx
I’m not a geek, but my husband and I are sufficiently nerdy that when we do a holiday we make a priority list of museums (esp science museums) and art galleries to visit.

eg On our honeymoon, almost 45 years ago, our first site-seeing visit was the Ontario Museum of Science.

So we’ve seen many looms, and learned of the role which weaving and music (consider pianolas etc) have played in the evolution to big tech.

My brief experience with Fortran was before I appreciated the big picture

Show threadTui22Nov 1, 2022

@rixx Do you have a URL reference for this?

It’s amazing. I did a course in Fortran in first year medicine over 50 years ago, (because I was bored) - but found the programming mind-numbingly boring so stuck with medicine.

To think the programming origins if the likes of fortran could create this … makes me realise the big picture cannot be lost, when you only focus on a small part.

Show threadrixxNov 1, 2022
@Tui22 If you go to the post you responded to, you will see the rest of the thread, which also includes sources.