[Nathan Zachary]

The earliest programming "languages" predate the invention of the computer. Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard loom in 1801, The loom is controlled by punchcards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order.

That is simple programing "language".

[TomOnTheRun]

If you go to the same wikipedia article you snagged this exact quote from: The loom is controlled by punchcards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order.

You will see another iportant bit: Although it did no computation based on them, it is considered an important step in the history of computing hardware

No computation - no computer. The jacquard head blocks needle passages physically - it's not a program.

[antiRepublicrat]

Simple “programs” go back at least to the 1200s in instructing mechanical devices to do specific work. A music box is technically a program along these lines.

This is the modern stored-program computer with stores of instructions and data, and an execution unit to apply the instructions to the data. It didn’t exist before Turing, and the ones that were built follow his theory.

I wonder whether you’d be so dismissive of Turing if he hadn’t been gay.