Nothing like dropping a 5000 card deck on way to the hopper, 10 minutes before mainframe went down for maintenance at 2 am and that run had to go and be printed for 8 am pickup. If you could type by touch on a keypunch you were doing goooooddddd….
Marking the deck with a marker on the diagonal was the second thing they taught us. BTW where the heck are these guys in a 1970’s disco hall or something? Weird ceiling
Ed is really old in his 50s. He’s been at this a long time. He remembers the pain of punching out keycards, waiting hours for your batch to run only to learn you had something in the wrong column.
A friend from high school used to find interesting ways to write letters from college. It was the mid 70’s, so punch cards were still current. He’d take old ones, and write longhand around the holes, so you had to follow the flow of the writing.
The worst thing was the keypunches that didn’t even print the characters on the card. You had to run the cards through the compiler to even find out what mistakes you made.
I got my first introduction to computers in high school back in 1964. Punch cards, of course. And people said, “That’s great. You can get a job as a key punch operator.” And even then, I thought “Why would any rational person with a choice CHOOSE to be a key punch operator?”
As bad as the nuisances of punch cards, worse was the angry snarls you’d get from the guys running the computer for wasting time on “their” computer.
Ah, yes, Computer Learning Center in the early 80s taugh us programming on punch cards. Diagonal line was a life saver! Old Joke – If you were playing cards and told someone to “Shuffle the Deck” – the programmers were the ones who turned pale!
comixluver almost 10 years ago
Nothing like dropping a 5000 card deck on way to the hopper, 10 minutes before mainframe went down for maintenance at 2 am and that run had to go and be printed for 8 am pickup. If you could type by touch on a keypunch you were doing goooooddddd….
KenTheCoffinDweller almost 10 years ago
The joys of the IBM 029 verifying keypunch and the 026 non-verifying punch.
jimguess almost 10 years ago
Good grief! That 026 was built in the 50’s!
How old are these dudes anyway?
Pharmakeus Ubik almost 10 years ago
As (not) fun as the Hollerith cards were, toggling programs in on the front panels was even more delightful.
Agent54 almost 10 years ago
Marking the deck with a marker on the diagonal was the second thing they taught us. BTW where the heck are these guys in a 1970’s disco hall or something? Weird ceiling
loveslife almost 10 years ago
Looks like a Chinese restaurant we used to go to….
bbbmorrell almost 10 years ago
punch cards made me wave off computers as a major and it was 10 years before i came back to them in a lateral move. so much change in so little time!
johnzakour Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Ed is really old in his 50s. He’s been at this a long time. He remembers the pain of punching out keycards, waiting hours for your batch to run only to learn you had something in the wrong column.
Thomas Scott Roberts creator almost 10 years ago
A friend from high school used to find interesting ways to write letters from college. It was the mid 70’s, so punch cards were still current. He’d take old ones, and write longhand around the holes, so you had to follow the flow of the writing.
jdunham almost 10 years ago
I did mine on the 024 punch. It didn’t print on the cards, so you had to be able to read the holes.
rshive almost 10 years ago
The worst thing was the keypunches that didn’t even print the characters on the card. You had to run the cards through the compiler to even find out what mistakes you made.
dutchs almost 10 years ago
I got my first introduction to computers in high school back in 1964. Punch cards, of course. And people said, “That’s great. You can get a job as a key punch operator.” And even then, I thought “Why would any rational person with a choice CHOOSE to be a key punch operator?”
As bad as the nuisances of punch cards, worse was the angry snarls you’d get from the guys running the computer for wasting time on “their” computer.
Thomas Scott Roberts creator almost 10 years ago
John and I are both in our 50s- but we’re young. We’re not like Ed.
I Quit almost 10 years ago
The trick to keypunch cards was drawing a diagonal line across the top. Many a student saved his project that way!
1148559 almost 10 years ago
My mom used to bring home punch cards and make wreaths out of them.
contralto2b almost 10 years ago
Ah, yes, Computer Learning Center in the early 80s taugh us programming on punch cards. Diagonal line was a life saver! Old Joke – If you were playing cards and told someone to “Shuffle the Deck” – the programmers were the ones who turned pale!