Skip to main content
Retrocomputing

Return to Answer

added 7 characters in body
Source Link
davidbak
davidbak
  • 6.5k
  • 1
  • 29
  • 35

Punch cards long long long predated paper tape.

But there's a practical consideration you're not thinking of. If you had ever used punch cards and paper tape, you'd know:

Punch cards can be dropped, and they scatter on the floor. Then you pick them up, put them all face up (by the printing on them) in the same orientation (with the one corner that's cut off lined up) and then you run them through a card sorter because you remembered to punch sequence numbers in the last 8 columns of the card! Then you're back in business, no sweat.

Paper tape can also be dropped. And then you've got a giant pile of spaghetti - spaghetti that's easily torn. Doesn't matter if it was spooled or fanfold: It gets tangled with itself immediately - possibly the only thing in the universe that happens faster than the speed of light. And untangling it is a slow process because if it didn't already get torn, it will when you untangle it (because the tape edges rub and catch against each other).

(And yes, as @alephzero has answered, you can't really edit it either, while you can always drop in another punch card to replace a bad one.)

P.S. - punch cards weren't just used for "sneakernet jobs". They did have to be durable because for a long time they were the only effective storage mechanism for programs. There'd be a bunch of separate rubber-banded piles on top of the card reader - one was your Fortran compiler, one was your assembler, one was the payroll system, one was accounts receivable, etc. etc. etc. A deck could be used daily and last months if not years.

Punch cards long long long predated paper tape.

But there's a practical consideration you're not thinking of. If you had ever used punch cards and paper tape, you'd know:

Punch cards can be dropped, and they scatter on the floor. Then you pick them up, put them all face up (by the printing on them) in the same orientation (with the one corner that's cut off lined up) and then you run them through a card sorter because you remembered to punch sequence numbers in the last 8 columns of the card! Then you're back in business, no sweat.

Paper tape can also be dropped. And then you've got a giant pile of spaghetti - spaghetti that's easily torn. Doesn't matter if it was spooled or fanfold: It gets tangled with itself immediately - possibly the only thing in the universe that happens faster than the speed of light. And untangling it is a slow process because if it didn't already get torn, it will when you untangle it (because the tape edges rub and catch against each other).

(And yes, as @alephzero has answered, you can't really edit it either, while you can always drop in another punch card to replace a bad one.)

P.S. - punch cards weren't used for "sneakernet jobs". They did have to be durable because for a long time they were the only effective storage mechanism for programs. There'd be a bunch of separate rubber-banded piles on top of the card reader - one was your Fortran compiler, one was your assembler, one was the payroll system, one was accounts receivable, etc. etc. etc. A deck could be used daily and last months if not years.

Punch cards long long long predated paper tape.

But there's a practical consideration you're not thinking of. If you had ever used punch cards and paper tape, you'd know:

Punch cards can be dropped, and they scatter on the floor. Then you pick them up, put them all face up (by the printing on them) in the same orientation (with the one corner that's cut off lined up) and then you run them through a card sorter because you remembered to punch sequence numbers in the last 8 columns of the card! Then you're back in business, no sweat.

Paper tape can also be dropped. And then you've got a giant pile of spaghetti - spaghetti that's easily torn. Doesn't matter if it was spooled or fanfold: It gets tangled with itself immediately - possibly the only thing in the universe that happens faster than the speed of light. And untangling it is a slow process because if it didn't already get torn, it will when you untangle it (because the tape edges rub and catch against each other).

(And yes, as @alephzero has answered, you can't really edit it either, while you can always drop in another punch card to replace a bad one.)

P.S. - punch cards weren't just used for "sneakernet jobs". They did have to be durable because for a long time they were the only effective storage mechanism for programs. There'd be a bunch of separate rubber-banded piles on top of the card reader - one was your Fortran compiler, one was your assembler, one was the payroll system, one was accounts receivable, etc. etc. etc. A deck could be used daily and last months if not years.

Source Link
davidbak
davidbak
  • 6.5k
  • 1
  • 29
  • 35

Punch cards long long long predated paper tape.

But there's a practical consideration you're not thinking of. If you had ever used punch cards and paper tape, you'd know:

Punch cards can be dropped, and they scatter on the floor. Then you pick them up, put them all face up (by the printing on them) in the same orientation (with the one corner that's cut off lined up) and then you run them through a card sorter because you remembered to punch sequence numbers in the last 8 columns of the card! Then you're back in business, no sweat.

Paper tape can also be dropped. And then you've got a giant pile of spaghetti - spaghetti that's easily torn. Doesn't matter if it was spooled or fanfold: It gets tangled with itself immediately - possibly the only thing in the universe that happens faster than the speed of light. And untangling it is a slow process because if it didn't already get torn, it will when you untangle it (because the tape edges rub and catch against each other).

(And yes, as @alephzero has answered, you can't really edit it either, while you can always drop in another punch card to replace a bad one.)

P.S. - punch cards weren't used for "sneakernet jobs". They did have to be durable because for a long time they were the only effective storage mechanism for programs. There'd be a bunch of separate rubber-banded piles on top of the card reader - one was your Fortran compiler, one was your assembler, one was the payroll system, one was accounts receivable, etc. etc. etc. A deck could be used daily and last months if not years.