11 Nov
2020
11 Nov
'20
6:21 p.m.
Peter Jeremy via COFF <coff(a)minnie.tuhs.org> writes:
Since no-one has mentioned it, the reason why Fortran
and Cobol ignore
columns 73-80 goes back to the IBM 711 card reader - which could read any
(but usually configured for the first) 72 columns into pairs of 36-bit words
in an IBM 701.
...and for those who, like me, did a double-take on that, thinking "WTF?
That would mean it read *rows* of bits from the card into machine words!",
I checked, and yes, that's exactly what it did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card_input/output#Binary_format
-tih (who learned FORTRAN using punched cards on a UNIVAC)
--
Most people who graduate with CS degrees don't understand the significance
of Lisp. Lisp is the most important idea in computer science. --Alan Kay