[HN Gopher] Punched Cards
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       Punched Cards
        
       Author : li4ick
       Score  : 10 points
       Date   : 2020-03-07 21:08 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.computerhistory.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.computerhistory.org)
        
       | gorgoiler wrote:
       | Oh wow what a huge amount of content. This is fantastic. Really
       | nailing the goal of being an online museum.
        
       | jf wrote:
       | As someone who first started using computers in the 90s, I lacked
       | the tactile experience with cards that the generation before mine
       | had. I long suspected that I had missed something by not having
       | used punched cards, little realizing just how much I had missed.
       | 
       | What was shocking to me about punched cards is the indelible mark
       | that they left on modern day computing. Why do terminals default
       | to 80 columns? That's the width of a punched card. Why do tabs
       | have variable length? The key used to move to the next "field" on
       | a punched card, by way of a physical tab stop. Why did FORTRAN
       | reserve the first few columns to line numbers? So you could put
       | your FORTRAN deck in a card sorter if you dropped it.
       | 
       | The link above seems to mirror the first part of the exhibit at
       | the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, which is well worth
       | seeing in person.
       | 
       | Even better are the live demonstrations of the IBM 1401 that are
       | also done at the Computer History Museum on Wednesday's and
       | Saturday's: http://ibm-1401.info/
        
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       (page generated 2020-03-07 23:00 UTC)