Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Before there was Fortran, there was the Jacquard loom

 In the museum of the history of Lyon there is a beautiful example of a Jacquard loom used in weaving silk at the beginning of the 19th century.  Designs were implemented on punch cards as shown in the photo below and produced the flamboyant  pattern in the next photo.  One can't help but envy the results especially by comparison with the paltry spew of Phillips curve coefficients emanating from my early experiences with Fortran and Hollerith cards.



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