Frederick Hammersley made a series of 72 drawings in 1969 using the University of New Mexico's IBM mainframe computer and a program which used punched cards before the final printing (maybe like the Jacquard loom?).
I would write out what I wanted to be done, and then I would go to the computer center and look at the information and then type it out, resulting in the punched cards. I’d give it to the little man behind the door, and five minutes later, I’d get this drawing back. I’d sit down and make a change and give it to him…. It was like eating peanuts. I mean, one thing would lead to another, and you just kept on chewing."
- Frederick Hammersley interviewed by Lawrence Weschler, January 2003
pdf catalog here
he says of the process:
"It took me some time to get used to this medium. What I intended to make did not always correspond to the program I thought I had punched in the card. I made many mistakes which the computer, in its logical way, would not print. The intricacies and possibilities seem endless and I have spent a great deal of time simply trying to master the mechanics of this particular technique. It continues to fascinate me.
The great advantage of the computer is that one can see the results so quickly. It takes a considerable time to program a drawing, less time to punch the information on cards, then, only a few seconds for the computer to print it. Afterwards, it takes a very short time to punch out variations of the first program for other drawings.
I have been making computer drawings for only a few months and am just now getting warmed up. I find that working with the computer is, in principle, the same as painting. The elements are different but end result, as in all visual art is the same—an image. It is not enough that an image be visually attractive. It must, I feel, be one of substance and of some significance. I am not concerned with the tricks and combinations forming computer drawings. I am trying, as in my approach to drawing and painting, to take advantage of all possibilities a computer offers me, and to exploit its limitations. I cannot, as yet, predict what might happen. Some ideas that I think are brilliant, when printed, turn out to be unsatisfactory. Doubtful ideas at times turn out to be quite good. I am continually being surprised by the difference between expectation and the result. This I find, is part of the fascination and challenge of the computer.
There are two final points about computer drawing that intrigue and concern me—one is positive and one, perhaps, may be negative. The positive one is, as I have said, the seemingly endless and wonderful possibilities it presents. The second point is that I, myself, am not actually making the drawing with my hands. My involvement and participation is very different from my feeling when painting, which may be a shortcoming. It might, on the other hand, be an asset to me; it may furnish me upon return to either drawing or painting with new insights and added understanding.
There something inextricably connected to weaving in this process. Weaving drawndowns have a similar look, but are much older. (I'd have to do more research than I'm willing to do to find out actual date ranges)
(Amusingly enough I found the image above from an article describing a weaving pattern computer application, so clearly there's a bit of crossover.)
In the image above top bar indicates how to thread the loom, the top corner is the tie-up, the sidebar is the treadling pattern which when followed correctly will result in the pattern in the large block.