- #1
- 3,503
- 1,617
- TL;DR Summary
- Another thread diverged to discussion of the IBM 083 High Speed Card Sorter.
This ancient machine was very important when EDP was only ADP (Automated Data Processing).
Part of the discussion on flow charts drifted towards the use of that corner cut on the old IBM cards - enough so, that I have created this new thread.
@sysprog provided this information:
The conversation diverged at about this post:
I noted that the card readers - including such machines as the IBM 083 High Speed Card Sorter - did not use the corner cut in the card for this purpose:
But my first sentence was wrong. The 083 Card Sorter can be configured to use that corner cut - though not for verifying the card orientation.
@sysprog noted that:
@sysprog then posted at https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/flow-chart-for-a-for-loop-in-python.972935/page-2#post-6189663
to which I will respond in posts that follow.
@sysprog provided this information:
sysprog said:
(punch and download keypunch card images site: https://www.masswerk.at/keypunch/https://www.masswerk.at/keypunch/)
The conversation diverged at about this post:
sysprog said:Yes (as the text on the card image indicates). The corner cut was there to ensure that the card reader could tell when a card had been placed in a wrong position for reading. '9-edge in face down' was the convention.
I noted that the card readers - including such machines as the IBM 083 High Speed Card Sorter - did not use the corner cut in the card for this purpose:
.Scott said:Not exactly. The card readers did not look for that cut. But the key-punch operators, computer operators, and programmers did.
By "card readers", I am including all manner of card reading devices: High Speed card sorters; 400-series accounting machines; reproduce punch machines; key punch machines; as well as computer card readers.
...
In general, card readers were not allowed to be picky. A lot of those cards were cycled through the target population (students, employees, applicants, teachers, administrators, ...) before being read. Those cards often came back with fairly creative damage.
But my first sentence was wrong. The 083 Card Sorter can be configured to use that corner cut - though not for verifying the card orientation.
@sysprog noted that:
sysprog said:The corner cut was definitely observed by the equipment for checking card orientation. From a 1967 http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/ibm/cardProc/A24-1034-3_82-83-84_sorters_Dec67.pdf:
@sysprog then posted at https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/flow-chart-for-a-for-loop-in-python.972935/page-2#post-6189663
to which I will respond in posts that follow.