Introduction
2012; Atlantis Press; Linguagem: Inglês
10.2991/978-94-91216-59-6_1
ISSN2215-1710
AutoresJeroen Janssen, Steven Schockaert, Dirk Vermeir, Martine De Cock,
ResumoLanguage is one of the most important tools that exist. It allows humans to communicate efficiently and to transfer knowledge between generations. According to Benjamin Whorf, language even shapes views and influences thoughts. Unfortunately, while human language is useful for communication between humans, it is not as efficient for communicating with our modern day devices. Therefore, ever since the rise of computers, the need has grown for languages that enable us to tell these machines what we expect them to do. Such languages are called programming languages. Their foundations can be dated back to the 1800s, where Joseph Marie Jacquard used punched cards to encode cloth patterns for his textile machine, called the "Jacquard loom". Charles Babbage improved on this idea when designing his "analytical engine" by allowing the machine to be reprogrammed using punched cards. Hence, instead of merely using the punched cards as data, the analytical engine could perform arbitrary computations that were encoded in the punched cards. As such, we can consider this the first real programmable machine
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