<It reads a set of instructions off the punch card, the gears or what hav <you interprets the pattern, and finally displays the output on the fabric <Sounds like a computer, in the broadest sense. The purists would say tha <it's not a computer unless it computes. I'm sure you could do math on it <with a few simple modifications though. The correct catagory is data processing. Specifics are that it's a predecessor to current CNC! Allison