Jacquard's web
by James Essinger · first published 2004
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3HN commenters
2016–2026first – last mentioned
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I read a good description of the affair in James Essinger's "Jacquard's Web" - came down to the machinist cutting the gears not-to-spec, for the geartrains to function smoothly they would have needed precision not achieved for decades. The Royal Society was willing to fund the…
on “A Brief History of Computers” ↗Ironically a lot of the works on Babbage go into his own trials and tribulations when trying to fundraise his Difference Engine and navigating the politics of 19th Century British Government affairs. Jacquard's Web [1] was a good break from this tradition and goes into the technical foundations for Babbage's work - highlighting the loom industry in Lyons but primarily focusing on Babbage and Lovelace's technical…
on “Computer Museum bids farewell to Babbage engine” ↗It's been a while since I read it, but I enjoyed _Jacquard's Web_ by James Essinger, which covers this in some more depth
on “Programming Patterns: The Story of the Jacquard Loom” ↗…free storage during the demonstration. [0] http://jmc.stanford.edu/articles/lisp/lisp.pdf [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_(programming_language) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_704 [3] Jacquard's Web by James Essinger is the book you want to read for more.
on “IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor” ↗