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Re: fortran 77 errors

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In article <0.35e0cd98d1ba5131b62a.20110623223910BST.8739j09qip.fsf@bsb.me.uk>,
Ben Bacarisse  <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> wrote:
> blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> writes:
> <snip>
> > For what it's worth, Fortran 77 supports both statement labels
> > *and* line numbers -- the latter being positioned after column 72 
> > and ignored by the compiler.  Line numbers were useful back in
> > the punched-card days; diligently numbering all the lines of one's
> > program meant that if one dropped the card deck containing the source
> > code, one could put the cards back in order using a card-sorting
> > machine on the columns (73-80) containing the line numbers.
> 
> These columns were not restricted to "line numbers".  For one thing, it
> was common for them not to be sequential so that cards could be added
> without renumbering everything, 

Quite -- that's what I meant, though admittedly not what I said!
(Choosing a good increment between successive whatever-you-call-'ems
was sometimes tricky, too.)

> and the field often contained something
> to identify the program.  That way, if you dropped a box with more than
> one program in it, you could get it back into order in less than a day
> and a half.

Oh right -- I had forgotten that indeed it was typical for the "line
numbers" to also include alphabetic text identifying the program.

A quick Google search seems to confirm my recollection that these
things (text plus number) are called "sequence numbers".

I'm remembering too that some keypunches had features that would
to some extent automate producing sequence numbers.  I could be
wrong about that.

> My speciality was to forget to flip the metal card catcher back after
> removing a deck from the output hopper.  The next deck that went though
> would then spray up into the room like geek confetti.  It was always an
> un-sequenced deck.
> 
> > Ah, the not-always-good old days!

And you left my comment in for good reason.  :-)

By the time I started writing nontrivial programs (as opposed to
short homeworks and such), I had access to electronic editors [*],
so I don't have good war stories about cards.  But I can imagine.
I did have a summer job at which my tasks involved a bit of 
keypunching and the occasional use of a card sorter.  Those were
the days?

[*] Starting with the line editor available under MVS/TSO.
By today's standards it was unbelievably primitive, but compared
to cards, *WHAT* an improvement ....

"Thanks for the memories"?  

-- 
B. L. Massingill
ObDisclaimer:  I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor.

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fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-22 16:43 -0400
  Re: fortran 77 errors James Waldby <not@valid.invalid> - 2011-06-22 21:18 +0000
    Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-22 18:31 -0400
      Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-22 17:21 -0700
        Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-22 20:50 -0400
          Re: fortran 77 errors Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-06-23 14:58 +1200
            Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-23 00:27 -0400
              Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 17:07 +0000
                Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-23 16:53 -0400
                Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 14:05 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-24 17:58 -0400
                Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-27 17:04 +1000
          Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 12:34 -0700
        Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 17:06 +0000
        Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-27 17:01 +1000
          Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-28 06:39 -0700
  Re: fortran 77 errors free@securityaudit.val.newsbank.net (Dick Wesseling) - 2011-06-23 00:43 +0000
    Re: fortran 77 errors "Ant" <not@home.today> - 2011-06-23 02:38 +0100
    Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-27 17:07 +1000
  Re: fortran 77 errors Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-23 00:47 -0700
    Re: fortran 77 errors Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-23 00:55 -0700
      Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-23 04:16 -0400
        Re: fortran 77 errors Ike Naar <ike@sverige.freeshell.org> - 2011-06-23 09:23 +0000
          Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 06:55 -0700
            Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 07:02 -0700
            Re: fortran 77 errors Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 15:22 +0100
              Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 08:19 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-23 08:52 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 17:32 +0000
                Re: fortran 77 errors Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-06-23 22:39 +0100
                Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-24 20:08 +0000
                Re: fortran 77 errors Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 19:38 +0100
              Re: fortran 77 errors "osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2011-06-23 10:25 -0500
                Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 09:47 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 17:30 +0000
                Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-23 17:30 -0400
                Re: fortran 77 errors Dan <dantex1@aol.com> - 2011-06-25 10:10 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-28 11:21 -0400
                Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-28 09:40 -0700
                Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-28 17:59 -0400
                Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-28 15:21 -0700
              Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-28 00:43 +1000
                Re: fortran 77 errors Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-06-28 11:40 +0100
                Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.com.au> - 2011-07-05 09:06 +1000
          Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-28 00:41 +1000
        Re: fortran 77 errors Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 12:12 +0100
        Re: fortran 77 errors Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-23 06:52 -0700
          Re: fortran 77 errors "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2011-06-23 17:45 -0400
            Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-23 15:30 -0700
            Re: fortran 77 errors Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-23 17:25 -0700
              Re: fortran 77 errors Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2011-06-24 10:35 -0700
              Re: fortran 77 errors blmblm@myrealbox.com <blmblm.myrealbox@gmail.com> - 2011-06-24 20:09 +0000
            Re: fortran 77 errors Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-06-24 01:38 +0100
    Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-27 17:10 +1000
  Re: fortran 77 errors kym@kymhorsell.com - 2011-06-23 21:23 +0000
  Re: fortran 77 errors "robin" <robin51@dodo.mapson.com.au> - 2011-06-27 17:13 +1000

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