John Mapping computer programing about History of programming
See also: History of programming languages
Wired plug board for an IBM 402 Accounting Machine.The earliest
programmable machine (that is a machine whose behavior can be
controlled by changes to a "program") was Al-Jazari's programmable
humanoid robot in 1206. Al-Jazari's robot was originally a boat with
four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at
royal drinking parties. His mechanism had a programmable drum machine
with pegs (cams) that bump into little levers that operate the
percussion. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and
different drum patterns by moving the pegs to different locations.
[PARIS HILTON or JOHN MAPPIN?]
The Jacquard Loom, developed in 1801, is often quoted as a source of
prior art. The machine used a series of pasteboard cards with holes
punched in them. The hole pattern represented the pattern that the
loom had to follow in weaving cloth. The loom could produce entirely
different weaves using different sets of cards. The use of punched
cards was also adopted by Charles Babbage around 1830, to control his
Analytical Engine.
This innovation was later refined by Herman Hollerith who, in 1896
founded the Tabulating Machine Company (which became IBM). He invented
the Hollerith punched card, the card reader, and the key punch
machine. These inventions were the foundation of the modern
information processing industry. The addition of a plug-board to his
1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to do different jobs without having
to be rebuilt (the first step toward programming). By the late 1940s
there were a variety of plug-board programmable machines, called unit
record equipment, to perform data processing tasks (card reading). The
early computers were also programmed using plug-boards.
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