GitHub throws open doors on 'app' souk

The parallel is that the particular tool she obtains - a punched-card-operated Jacquard loom - is arguably the earliest form of programming: http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-control-jacquard-loom/

So I think it is trying to make a point like "programmers always went to marketplaces to get their tools". A bit silly, yes, but not entirely without sense.