Early Programming: Crash Course Computer Science #10 | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

The history of programming evolved from punch cards and plug boards to stored-program computers, leading to the development of programming languages.

Key Insights

• 😒 Punch cards were a cheap and reliable way to store data, leading to their use in various industries such as textiles and census data.
• 👻 Plug boards allowed for different programs to be run on the same machine, but were complicated and time-consuming to program.
• 🏪 Stored-program computers revolutionized programming by allowing programs to be stored in memory, improving flexibility and accessibility.
• 🧡 The development of programming languages simplified the process of writing programs and made computing more accessible to a wider range of people.
• 👪 Early home computers used switches and buttons for programming, highlighting the limitations and challenges of early programming methods.
• 🛀 The evolution of programming shows a progression towards making programming more user-friendly and accessible to non-experts.
• 🏪 The advancements in computer memory size and cost made it possible to store both programs and data in a single shared memory.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Carrie Anne and welcome to Crash Course Computer Science. Over the last few episodes, We've talked a lot about the mechanics of how computers work. How they use complex circuits to save and retrieve values from memory, and perform operations on those values, like adding two numbers together. We've even briefly talked about sequences of oper... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: What was Joseph Marie Jacquard's contribution to programming?

Joseph Marie Jacquard developed a programmable textile loom that used punched cards to define patterns in the fabric, making it one of the earliest forms of programming.

Q: How were punch cards used in tabulating machines?

Punch cards were used to store individual demographic data for the 1890 census. A hole punched in a specific position represented a specific answer, and tabulating machines would count the holes to generate totals.

Q: Why were plug boards used in early computers?

Plug boards allowed programmers to pass values and signals between different parts of the machine. However, they were complicated and required rewiring for each program.

Q: How did stored-program computers change programming?

Stored-program computers allowed programs to be stored entirely in memory, making it easier and faster to change programs. This led to the von Neumann architecture and the development of programming languages.

Q: What was Joseph Marie Jacquard's contribution to programming?

Joseph Marie Jacquard developed a programmable textile loom that used punched cards to define patterns in the fabric, making it one of the earliest forms of programming.

More Insights

• Punch cards were a cheap and reliable way to store data, leading to their use in various industries such as textiles and census data.

• Plug boards allowed for different programs to be run on the same machine, but were complicated and time-consuming to program.

• Stored-program computers revolutionized programming by allowing programs to be stored in memory, improving flexibility and accessibility.

• The development of programming languages simplified the process of writing programs and made computing more accessible to a wider range of people.

• Early home computers used switches and buttons for programming, highlighting the limitations and challenges of early programming methods.

• The evolution of programming shows a progression towards making programming more user-friendly and accessible to non-experts.

• The advancements in computer memory size and cost made it possible to store both programs and data in a single shared memory.

• The use of programming languages was a significant milestone in making programming more intuitive and efficient.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Early forms of programming included Joseph Marie Jacquard's programmable textile loom using punched cards to create patterns in fabric.

• Punch cards were later used in tabulating machines to store data for the 1890 census, but were not programmable.

• Plug boards were introduced to program business machines, but were complicated and required rewiring for each program.