Old Technology: Mechanical Automation sequencers.

ApacheKid

Joined Jan 12, 2015
1,533
That "writing Boy" machine is certainly a marvel of design and construction, no argument about that. It is amazing indeed.
But it is not really a computer at all, because it does not make decisions based on the inputs. It certainly IS a programmable servo system that does a sequence of motions based on an instruction scheme.
It is a bit like the "Text 90" software from the earlier 1960's era that would print a whole book based on a stack of loaded in punch cards. The formatting was automated but the creation had to be put on the cards.
I've never really personally liked the metaphor "makes decisions" when describing algorithms. Any actual decisions were made by the programmer, the machine itself is just a finite state machine, the past determines it's future. We'd never describe an AND gate as "makes the decisions to go low when that input there goes low".

Might sound like nit picking but I do think that animated boy can be described as a computer more or less.
 
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