If you mention punch cards to most people, they’ll think of voting. If you mention it to most older computer people, they’ll think of punching programs for big computers on cards. But punched cards are much older than that, and [Nichole Misako Nomura] talks about how the original use was to run looms and knitting machines and — thanks the Internet Archive — you can still find old cards to drive modern machines.
According to the post, a dedicated group of people own old commercial knitting machines, and with some work, they can use archived punch cards with patterns that predate the computerized world. The Jacquard loom was famously the first machine to use cards like this, and it is no secret that they were the inspiration for Hollerith’s use of cards in the census, which would eventually lead to the use of cards for computing.
This is an interesting example of format issues. There are many card patterns stored on the Internet, but getting from a digital image to a workable card or even a set of instructions. But it is doable. You have to wonder if pulling old data off other, more modern media will be workable in the future.
If you want to relive (or try for the first time) keypunching, you can use your browser. The Jacquard loom may be ancient history, but it has many spiritual descendants.
“…mention punch cards to most people…” I think that sentence was meant do be “…to most US americans”. Not many countries outside the states use punch cards (according to a quick binging resulting in https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/30/from-voter-registration-to-mail-in-ballots-how-do-countries-around-the-world-run-their-elections/ ).
yes, not sure about other parts of the world, but Australia puts numbers in boxes. (This enables something a bit more complex (and I think: better) than just first past the post, being preferential voting)
Punched cards were also used to facilitate Hоlосаust. Thanks IBM!
Not really, The first use of punched cards was indeed for looms, but also the beginning of the player piano development. Then they were going to be used for Babbage’s engines, but that never really worked out. Finally they were used by Hollerith and eventually for IBM’s machines.
“There are many card patterns stored on the Internet, but getting from a digital image to a workable card or even a set of instructions.”
Is not a complete sentence, and sorry to be picky, but reading things that go nowhere.