26 Jan
2011
26 Jan
'11
10:56 a.m.
A Jacquard loom is programmable and even runs
loops...
*I* wouldn't call it a computer.
'A computer must be programamble' is not the same thing as 'Any
programmable device is a computer'. I would class a Jacquard loom as a
programamble non-computational device.
Another example : Some years ago I designed and built a device that
outputted various carefully-timed pulses tocontrol another device. The
unit was programamble, there werecounters that you could load under
program control and which then counted down, conditioanl jumps on a
counter getting to 0-, or on external trigger inputs, a 4 level return
stack so you could have subroutines in the control program, etc. But I
wouldn't call that a computer. A programamble control system, sure...
-tony