imported>Entranced98: Importing Wikidata short description: "Set of instructions used to control the behavior of a machine"

2025-06-08T07:48:55Z

Importing Wikidata short description: "Set of instructions used to control the behavior of a machine"

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{{Short description|Set of instructions used to control the behavior of a machine}}
A '''program''' is a set of instructions used to control the behavior of a [[machine]]. Examples of such programs include:

*The sequence of [[Punched card|cards]] used by a [[Jacquard loom]] to produce a given pattern within weaved [[cloth]]. Invented in 1801, it used holes in punched cards to represent sewing loom arm movements in order to generate decorative patterns automatically.
*A [[computer program]] ([[software]]) is a list of instructions to be executed by a computer.
*Barrels, punched cards and [[music roll]]s encoding music to be played by [[player piano]]s, [[fairground organ]]s, [[barrel organ]]s and [[musical box|music boxes]].
*The automatic flute player, which was invented in the 9th century by the [[Banū Mūsā brothers]] in [[Baghdad]], is the first known example of a programmable machine. The work of the Banu Musa was influenced by their Hellenistic forebears, but it also makes significant improvements over Greek creation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koetsier |first=Teun |date=2001-05-01 |title=On the prehistory of programmable machines: musical automata, looms, calculators |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094114X01000052 |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |language=en |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=589–603 |doi=10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2 |issn=0094-114X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The pinned-barrel mechanism, which allowed for programmable variations in the rhythm and melody of the music, was the key contribution given by the Banu Musa.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kapur |first1=Ajay |last2=Carnegie |first2=Dale |last3=Murphy |first3=Jim |last4=Long |first4=Jason |title=Loudspeakers Optional: A history of non-loudspeaker-based electroacoustic music |journal=[[Organised Sound]] |date=2017 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=195–205 |doi=10.1017/S1355771817000103 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |issn=1355-7718|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1206, the Muslim inventor [[Al-Jazari]] (in the [[Artuqids|Artuqid Sultnate]]) described a [[drum machine]] which may have been an example of a programmable automaton.<ref name=Sharkey>[[Noel Sharkey|Professor Noel Sharkey]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html A 13th Century Programmable Robot (Archive)], [[University of Sheffield]], 2007</ref>

The execution of a program is a series of actions following the instructions it contains. Each instruction produces effects that alter the state of the machine according to its predefined meaning.

While some machines are called '''programmable''', for example a [[programmable thermostat]] or a musical [[synthesizer]], they are in fact just devices which allow their users to select among a fixed set of a variety of options, rather than being controlled by programs written in a language (be it textual, visual or otherwise).

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Computing terminology]]
[[Category:Arab inventions]]
[[Category:Iranian inventions]]
[[Category:Turkish inventions]]

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Program (machine) - Revision history

imported>Entranced98: Importing Wikidata short description: "Set of instructions used to control the behavior of a machine"