IBM punch cards supported 120 characters - Generally though, 80 were reserved for code and the other 40 were used for things like line numbers/indexing up front and line comments at the end. No, I didn't actually program with punch cards - my college had a bunch of ancient machines lying around and one of my first professors made us all copy a simple "hello world" program he had written on them just to get the experience of what it was like.
That is not what the IBM punch cards I used when programming. They were 80 columns, with some columns in the beginning and at the end reserved for special use (depending upon language). They were use for special macnines (card sorters) or to mark changes to the card (ie: a line change added to the deck).
IBM punch cards supported 120 characters - Generally though, 80 were reserved for code and the other 40 were used for things like line numbers/indexing up front and line comments at the end. No, I didn't actually program with punch cards - my college had a bunch of ancient machines lying around and one of my first professors made us all copy a simple "hello world" program he had written on them just to get the experience of what it was like.
I'm an old timer from the days of programs (and data) being written and submitted on 80-column cards. I'm pretty sure no one made 120 column punch cards. However, back then there were 120 column line printers. Could that be what you recall?
%DCL-MEM-BAD, bad memory
VMS-F-PDGERS, pudding between the ears
Oh no! (Score:1)
Just my 2 cents
Re:Oh no! (Score:2)
IBM punch cards supported 120 characters - Generally though, 80 were reserved for code and the other 40 were used for things like line numbers/indexing up front and line comments at the end.
No, I didn't actually program with punch cards - my college had a bunch of ancient machines lying around and one of my first professors made us all copy a simple "hello world" program he had written on them just to get the experience of what it was like.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
IBM punch cards supported 120 characters - Generally though, 80 were reserved for code and the other 40 were used for things like line numbers/indexing up front and line comments at the end.
No, I didn't actually program with punch cards - my college had a bunch of ancient machines lying around and one of my first professors made us all copy a simple "hello world" program he had written on them just to get the experience of what it was like.
I'm an old timer from the days of programs (and data) being written and submitted on 80-column cards. I'm pretty sure no one made 120 column punch cards.
However, back then there were 120 column line printers. Could that be what you recall?