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 threadTui22Nov 1, 2022
@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!
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 threadrixx
@Tui22 If you go to the post you responded to, you will see the rest of the thread, which also includes sources.
Nov 1, 2022 at 11:00amWeb