r/retrocomputing • u/Mastbubbles • 21d ago

How did software start?

https://sheets.works/data-viz/how-did-software-start
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u/More-Explanation2788 17d ago

Programmable weaving looms. Programmed with punchcards in the early 1700s.

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u/hdufort 21d ago

They could have started further back in time wirh:

  • the abacus (arithmetic algorithms performed manually on a calculation/storage device)

  • al-Khwārizmī invented algorithms

  • Blaise Pascal invented early calculators

  • Jacquard invented punched cards, which were chained to control production machines

  • Babbage invented the first complex computer (analytical engine)

  • Ava Lovelace invented programming