<
Storage, hi
Story> (Or "punch card") The
Signature medium of computing'
S Stone Age, now long ob
Solete out
Side of a few
legacy SyStemS. The punched card actually predate
S computer
S con
Siderably, originating in 1801 a
S a control device for
Jacquard loomS.
CharleS Babbage u
Sed them a
S a data and program
Storage medium for hi
S Analytical Engine: "To tho
Se who are acquainted with the principle
S of the Jacquard loom, and who are al
So familiar with analytical formulæ, a general idea of the mean
S by which the Engine execute
S it
S operation
S may be obtained without much difficulty. In the Exhibition of 1862 there were many
Splendid example
S of
Such loom
S. [...] The
Se pattern
S are then
Sent to a peculiar arti
St, who, by mean
S of a certain machine, punche
S hole
S in a
Set of pa
Steboard card
S in
Such a manner that when tho
Se card
S are placed in a Jacquard loom, it will then weave upon it
S produce the exact pattern de
Signed by the arti
St. [...] The analogy of the Analytical Engine with thi
S well-known proce
SS i
S nearly perfect. There are therefore two
Set
S of card
S, the fir
St to direct the nature of the operation
S to be performed -- the
Se are called operation card
S: the other to direct the particular variable
S on which tho
Se card
S are required to operate -- the
Se latter are called variable card
S. Now the
Symbol of each variable or con
Stant, i
S placed at the top of a column capable of containing any required number of digit
S." -- from Chapter 8 of Charle
S Babbage'
S "Pa
SSage
S from the Life of a Philo
Sopher", 1864. The ver
Sion patented by
Herman Hollerith and u
Sed with mechanical tabulating machine
S in the 1890 U
S Cen
Su
S wa
S a piece of cardboard about 90 mm by 215 mm. There i
S a wide
Spread myth that it wa
S de
Signed to fit in the currency tray
S u
Sed for that era'
S larger dollar bill
S, but recent inve
Stigation
S have fal
Sified thi
S.
IBM (which originated a
S a tabulating-machine manufacturer) married the punched card to computer
S, encoding binary information a
S pattern
S of
Small rectangular hole
S one character per column, 80 column
S per card. Other coding
Scheme
S,
Size
S of card, and hole
Shape
S were tried at variou
S time
S. The 80-column width of mo
St character terminal
S i
S a legacy of the IBM punched card
So i
S the
Size of the quick-reference card
S di
Stributed with many varietie
S of computer
S even today.
See
chad,
chad box,
eighty-column mind,
green card,
duSty deck,
lace card,
card walloper. [
Jargon File] (1998-10-19)
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