How weaving helped invent modern computing — and is shaping its future
theconversation.com
Weaving is one of humanity’s oldest crafts, but its patterns helped inspire early computing. Today, textile makers are using conductive yarns and digital looms to invent new kinds of technology.

TLDR on the history side of the article

In 1804, a French weaver named Joseph-Marie Jacquard patented a loom that could weave intricate patterns using punch cards — paper cards with encoded holes.

Once they pass through the loom, the presence or absence of a hole tells the loom which warp thread to raise or lower, acting as the earliest form of binary code programming. Weaving that once required a master weaver and an assistant could now be done by craft hobbyists.