Re: MIDRANGE-L Digest, Vol 10, Issue 618

from: "Tom Deskevich" <thomas.l.deskevich@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: Decided to hang it up (punched cards and desk checking)

I never programmed on punch card machines, but was an operator.
At one job, programmers had to submit their compiles on punched cards.
Production always came first, and the operator could wait up to 24 hours to
run the compile.
Those guys had to desk check like crazy to make sure there were no syntax or
logic errors.

Tom Deskevich

My first year of college was the last year my university used punch cards. Dear
Lord, writing FORTRAN programs, punching cards, checking each one, stacking
them. Growling like a bear with a sore liver whenever someone came near the
punched stack. I miss it not.


In the confluence of current events and this thread, a nightmarish scenario came
to mind: programming on punch cards, which isn't the nightmarish part. The
nightmarish part is having to send the cards to an offshore operational center
for them to be fed in...

Fun fact: take a blank card, and punch out every chad. Put this card ion the
duplication drum. Feed a box of blank cards into the hopper, tape down the DUP
key and go have a meal. When you come back, all of the cards are punched, and
you have a bag of confetti the size of a bowling ball. What you do with this
stuff is your problem.