When I was in college 1979-1983, ALL of my programming courses (Fortran, PL/1, Assembly) required me to use punch cards. The college was on a timeshare to a remote IBM 360/370 computer (at Fairleigh Dickinson University). The only input we had available was a card reader. Output was from a local high-speed printer. The operator would separate the reports (usually compile listings/output) and put in slots by first letter of last name. If the compile worked, we got to turn that report in to the professor for credit. If not, we had to go back to the O29 keypunch to make corrections and try it again. Thank God I wasn't in the COBOL classes (they were for business students ONLY) because their card decks were typically from 4" to 8" thick.
The college finally got some CRT's during my senior year (1982-1983), but they were reserved for the business students and BASIC programmers, NOT for the computer science students.
I got my first computer operator job in 1984. The "modern" system in the room was a IBM System/3. The data input was usually a magnetic tape (1200' reel IIRC, created on a dedicated Entrex/Nixdorf keypunch computer), but the job control was still on 96-column cards in little rubber-banded card decks in drawers. At least the programmers had CRT's to maintain the COBOL and RPG II code that was compiled and stored on "removable" disk packs. The "other" system was a stripped-down IBM 360 with NO spooling; command entry was through a teletype that looked like an oversized typewriter with a box of paper feeding through it. We also did some punching/sorting jobs on a MFCU with 5 hoppers.
In my second computer job (1985), I got to work with more "modern" equipment. The trusty IBM System/3 was still the main batch processor for billing. Input was created by a keypunch department (of about 8 women) on 96-column cards. The job streams for the System/3 were card decks about 1/2" thick with "delimiter" cards where the data cards would go. The 96-column cards would come to me in long trays and it was my job to feed those into the stream at the appropriate points while the MFCU was reading everything in. This was in a hospital and yes, it also had a System/38 for the online processing (such as patient admissions/releases, insurance filing, and pharmacy tracking), but my main function was operating the "old" System/3; I only got to monitor the System/38 at that time.
I didn't actually get away from punch cards until 1986 when I finally got into programming on the System/38. Although I haven't used punch cards since that time (and have NO desire to), they definitely served a purpose. To constantly deride the punch card because it is "old" technology is a great disservice to those of us who got our feet wet that way. Just like you never forget your first car, or your first love, we should ALWAYS remember where we've come from in our careers in the computer world.
p.s. It is possible that 1990 date is NOT a typo...
Bob Schuch | U.S. Xpress, Inc.
Programmer/Analyst
4080 Jenkins Road | Chattanooga, TN 37421
Office: 423 510 3791
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bschuch@xxxxxxxxxxxx | www.usxpress.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: WDSCI-L [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Justin Taylor
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2017 2:42 PM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi Birthday Celebration
I saw a guy post online last week that he used punch cards on mainframe in 1990. I assumed it was a typo on the year.
-----Original Message-----
From: Booth Martin [mailto:booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2017 1:34 PM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi Birthday Celebration
What befuddles me (among a long list if things) is .. where did these guys see punch cards? I am 79 years old and punch cards were in my rear view mirror. I x-punched cards in the military but that was pretty much it. My first computer was in 1971 and had no punch cards, although a reader was available.
1971 was 46 years ago. If someone working today used punch cards it has to have been for a very few years and very early in their career. Those were the days of telex, telegrams, air mail, and carbon paper.
On 12/11/2017 7:08 AM, Ken Killian wrote:
I often running into developers who LOVE PUNCH-Cards. And for some strange reason have "fond memories" of using them...
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