Binary numeral system in looms
Nowadays computer function can be compared to brain function. Before the computers became common the functions of a weaving machine and a brain were compared to each other.
Woven fabrics are composed of two intersecting thread systems, which are called warp and weft. The warp is the fabric’s longitudinal and the weft the transverse thread system. The warp is first fasted to the loom. When part of the warp is raised up, the weft can be threaded between the warps. When different warps are raised the next time, a bondage will develop around the weft. The warps rise according to how they are connected to each other and to the paths that guide the rising.
The connecting threads cause the warp to rise according to the pattern. The looms have certain places that either have a connection, a thread, to another place, or the connection does not exist even though it could. These connections determine the type of cloth that is woven. In weaving it is called binding. Together the binding and the treadle form the pattern of the cloth.
Instead of the connecting thread, the electric current either flows or does not flow in the examined spot in a computer. The binary numeral system can be applied in devices that only have two options in functioning. A German Gottfried Leibniz developed the modern binary numeral system in 1701.
The radix in binary numeral system is two. The numbers are one (1) and zero (0). They are binary units, “bit” for short. If the value is 1, something exists. If the value is 0, it does not exist. Thus, there are two possibilities in the system.
At the early state of developing computers, software was saved on punched cards. The software is composed of rows and columns with places for holes. There either is or is not a punch/hole in each place. Joseph Jacquard developed the punched cards for passing on binary information in 1801.
Jacquard was a French engineer who inherited a small textile factory. He started to weave coloured cloth and for this purpose he developed a waving machine in which the patterning could be changed by using another weaving programme.
Jacquard created and saved the weaving programme on a punched card tape. In the place of a hole in the puchcard the hook guiding the warp raises the warp so that the weft goes under the warp. In a place of no hole, the warp stays still and the weft goes below the warp. This invention automatized the weaving of coloured cloth and designing of patterns and programmes was stressed in the profession of a weaver. Because of the punch cards, the programmes as such became reusable. A certain type of colour woven cloth is still called Jacquard cloth.
Coloured cloth, or jacquard patterned cloth, means woven patterns in various colours that use curved lines as it shows in the picture.
Count the 7 first power of two.
2^1 = 2
2^2 = 4
2^3 = 8
2^4 = 16
2^5 = 32
2^6 = 64
2^7 = 128
How many different character strings can ASCII form? Eight characters that can have two different values, can form 2^8 = 256 different strings.