XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, comp.text.pdf, alt.comp.os.windows-10   
   From: daniel47@eternal-september.org   
      
   On 5/03/2025 5:39 pm, Paul wrote:   
   > On Tue, 3/4/2025 11:28 PM, Don_from_AZ wrote:   
   >> Peter Flynn  writes:   
   >>   
   >>> On 04/03/2025 15:23, Tim Slattery wrote: [snip]   
   >>>> A box of Hollerith (or IBM) cards held 2,000 cards. Each   
   >>>> FORTRAN statement would go on a separate card, so 2,000 FORTRAN   
   >>>> statements is right. And if you dropped your box and spilled   
   >>>> your cards, good luck getting them back in the correct order!   
   >>>   
   >>> In my college, the computing centre had a card sorter, which was   
   >>> huge and stood on cast-iron lion's feet which someone had painted   
   >>> gold :-) But of course it only worked if your program statements   
   >>> or data lines (cards) were numbered. You only drop a box of cards   
   >>> once.   
   >>>   
   >>> (You may hear the voice of experience there :-)   
   >>>   
   >>> Peter   
   >>>   
   >> I worked for Honeywell at a WWMMCCS site (World-Wide Military   
   >> Command and Control System) at the Washington Navy Yard as a tech   
   >> support guy. This was about 1973. I created new boot decks for the   
   >> Honeywell 635 as needed, with new patch cards or new   
   >> configurations. I was carrying a tray of punched cards to the   
   >> computer room, one hand on each end of the card tray. I tried to   
   >> hook the door handle with my little finger to pull it open and lost   
   >> my grip on the tray; cards all over the floor! Embarrasing to say   
   >> the least, and I didn't even try to put them back in order, just   
   >> punched out a new deck.   
   >>   
   >   
   > You could put numbers in column 72.   
   >   
   > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Fort   
   anCardPROJ039.agr.jpg/960px-FortranCardPROJ039.agr.jpg   
   >   
   >  You generally also need some spacing between card numbers, like use   
   > 10,20,30 then if you added a card it could be 25, then a card between   
   > 20 and 25, could be card 23. You needed a means to support program   
   > edits.   
      
   That was the reason stated when I started BASIC Programming (1985'ish   
   .... O./K., so I was a late comer!!) "Number the Lines 10, 20, 30, etc,   
   so, if you need to add a bit extra, there were all those other line   
   numbers to use!!"   
      
   --   
   Daniel70   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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