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Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil

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On 01/05/2014 16:49, Paul Sture wrote:
> On 2014-04-28, Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> wrote:
>> In article <bs7ntiF324aU1@mid.individual.net>, polygonum
>> <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 28/04/2014 17:15, Tim Streater wrote:
>>>> Largely cock. You might write your code on sheets, but then you'd go
>>>> find a card punch and create your deck of cards, make it into a job
>>>> with some data, and test it. By the time I was a professional
>>>> programmer (1968), I'd be getting the results an hour or so later.
>>>
>>> Largely not cock. Aligns closely with my experience - coding sheets,
>>> sent to data entry clerks, and we got the printed program listing.
>>>
>>> We did have manual card punches but they tended to be used for edits
>>> rather than the initial program entry. And we used silver foils for
>>> correcting individual cards.
>>
>> I'm talking about IBM 026 and 029 card punches. No one bothered
>> correcting a card, you re-punched it.
>
> Our data prep room was upstairs with the clankety-clank Burroughs machine
> that the ICL was to replace.  A trip upstairs to get a card corrected
> took longer than using a manual punch.  We had plastic stickers just large
> enough to cover one hole for corrections.
>
Agreed.

If you were careful, it was often possible to use a chad picked up from 
around a punch to fill a wrongly-punched hole. Not very reliable, 
definitely not recommended for cards that were going to be used 
repeatedly. Some engineers were very unhappy in case they damaged the 
reader. Mind, I saw some that had run through the reader numerous times.

-- 
Rod

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the days of punch cards and coding in pencil RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-04-28 14:31 +0000
  Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-04-28 17:15 +0100
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-04-28 11:02 -0600
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-04-28 18:30 +0100
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Scion <a.b@nospam.invalid> - 2014-04-29 10:08 +0000
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-04-28 20:55 +0000
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-04-28 20:19 +0100
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-04-28 20:45 +0100
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 17:49 +0200
          Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil polygonum <rmoudndgers@vrod.co.uk> - 2014-05-01 20:25 +0100
            Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-05-01 21:01 +0000
            Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 23:16 +0200
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-04-28 20:10 +0000
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-04-28 20:58 +0000
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil despen@verizon.net (Dan.Espen) - 2014-04-28 16:59 -0400
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Andy Burns <usenet.feb2014@adslpipe.co.uk> - 2014-04-30 09:51 +0100
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> - 2014-04-30 19:02 +0100
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2014-04-30 22:05 +0100
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-01 08:15 +0100
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2014-05-01 15:59 +0100
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 17:45 +0200
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-01 19:06 +0100
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-05-01 13:27 -0600
          Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-01 20:37 +0100
            Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-05-01 20:08 +0000
            Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2014-05-01 22:15 +0100
          Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> - 2014-05-02 12:58 +0200
            Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-05-02 12:36 -0600
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 22:59 +0200
  Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2014-04-29 12:54 +1000
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil despen@verizon.net (Dan.Espen) - 2014-04-29 10:19 -0400
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 18:01 +0200
        Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-05-01 18:56 +0200
    Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> - 2014-05-02 08:59 +0100
      Re: the days of punch cards and coding in pencil Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2014-05-02 10:57 +0100

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