Punched card - Revision history

Dan Tobias: Add headers

2025-10-09T20:42:17Z

Add headers

Bsdphk: Update with results of my survey into preservation formats.

2025-10-01T16:18:17Z

Update with results of my survey into preservation formats.

Bsdphk at 22:27, 27 March 2020

2020-03-27T22:27:00Z

Dan Tobias: /* Resources */

2013-09-24T00:12:02Z

‎Resources

Dan Tobias: /* Resources */

2013-08-11T23:37:30Z

‎Resources

Dan Tobias: /* Resources */

2012-12-14T13:31:44Z

‎Resources

Dan Tobias at 05:13, 14 December 2012

2012-12-14T05:13:40Z

Dan Tobias: /* Resources */

2012-12-14T00:58:37Z

‎Resources

Dan Tobias at 19:26, 9 December 2012

2012-12-09T19:26:28Z

Dan Tobias at 19:25, 9 December 2012

2012-12-09T19:25:48Z

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 It is possible to read most standard punch cards with a scanner and  DataMuseum.dk has developed such a program in python3, aptly named "Florida2000".  The source code can be found under the Datamuseum-DK account on github.
 A survey (2025-10-01) looking for standarized file-formats, for the digital preservation of punched card contents comes up empty.
@@ Line 29: / Line 31: @@
 The line "Top 4 bits of second character are 0." is wrong, and should correctly read "The bottom bits of every second character is 0."
 * [[Aperture card]]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic card|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.
-It should be possible to read most standard punch cards with a sheet-fed scanner (simplex is sufficient) and a simple black/white sensing program.  DataMuseum.dk has such a program, aptly named "florida2k" written in python3.
+It is possible to read most standard punch cards with a scanner and  DataMuseum.dk has developed such a program in python3, aptly named "Florida2000".  The source code can be found under the Datamuseum-DK account on github.
 * [[Aperture card]]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic card|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.
-It should be possible to read most standard punch cards with a sheet-fed scanner (simplex is sufficient) and a simple black/white sensing program.  No such program is known to exist yet.
+It should be possible to read most standard punch cards with a sheet-fed scanner (simplex is sufficient) and a simple black/white sensing program.  DataMuseum.dk has such a program, aptly named "florida2k" written in python3.
 * [[Aperture card]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:12, 24 September 2013
Line 28:		Line 28:
	* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch		* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch
	* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/punchcards.html The little secret that haunts corporate America ... A technology that won't go away.]		* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/punchcards.html The little secret that haunts corporate America ... A technology that won't go away.]
		+	* [http://what-if.xkcd.com/63/ If all digital data were stored on punch cards, how big would Google's data warehouse be?]

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:37, 11 August 2013
Line 27:		Line 27:
	* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cardint.htm The Punched Card]: shows details of a number of card formats and character encoding schemes		* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cardint.htm The Punched Card]: shows details of a number of card formats and character encoding schemes
	* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch		* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch
		+	* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/punchcards.html The little secret that haunts corporate America ... A technology that won't go away.]

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:31, 14 December 2012
Line 25:		Line 25:

	* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]		* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]
		+	* [http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cardint.htm The Punched Card]: shows details of a number of card formats and character encoding schemes
	* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch		* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 * [[Aperture card]]
 * [[Hollerith card]]
-* [[IBM card]]
+* [[IBM card]] (original 80-column version)
 ** [[IBM stub card]]
 * [[Jacquard Loom]]
 * [[Korsakov card]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:58, 14 December 2012
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	* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]		* [http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/ The Douglas W. Jones Punched Card Page]
		+	* [http://www.masswerk.at/google60/ Google60]: Cute web app showing how Google's interface might have been in the 1960s, complete with simulated keypunch

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 '''Punched cards''', or punchcards, were for many years the major method of providing input to computers. Programs in [[FORTRAN]] or [[COBOL]] or [[RPG]] were punched onto decks of cards (one card per program line) on keypunch machines and handed in to be run in batch-processing mode on the computer, which was too massive and expensive to be made available to individuals other than through the mediation of system operators who eventually handed back the output in printed form. Often the function of the programs was to churn through large amounts of data to do number-crunching or other operations on it; this data might also be provided on punchcards (though [[magnetic tape]] and paper [[punched tape]] were also used). Punchcards could also be found in all sorts of other places, including in the cards you sent back with bill payments (which bore the infamous exhortation, "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate").
-While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic cards|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.
+While punchcards are most associated with the "big-iron" mainframe computers of the 1950s through 1970s, they have a 200-year history of use for many applications, from the [[Jacquard Loom]] of 1801 to the "hanging chads" of the 2000 US presidential [[Votomatic card|election]]. In between they were proposed for use in Babbage's never-finished Analytic Engine and used by Hollerith for data-tabulation for the 1890 US Census.
 It should be possible to read most standard punch cards with a sheet-fed scanner (simplex is sufficient) and a simple black/white sensing program.  No such program is known to exist yet.