4 ms·

Show HN: Virtual Card Read-Punch – Punch, Read, Execute Virtual Punch Cards

46 points by masswerk 7y ago

Merrill 7y ago
Not quite the true experience. It should first start with writing the program on a standard coding form (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.pn...), after which it is sent to the keypunch department. When the deck and card listing come back the next day, the programmer would proofread the listing and use a Type 029 to replace misspunched cards and insert/delete to correct bugs found in re-reading. This was somewhat laborious, since most programmers did not type well, and unlike the simulation, the 029 did not have a backspace key. JCL or other control language cards as needed by the operating system would have to be punched to define memory needed, tape drives, disk drives, department chargeback accounts, etc. And the output would come back after a few hours on 132 column greenbar fanfold.
- masswerk 7y ago
  The input text-area should be styled as the respective COBOL and FORTRAN coding forms. With a bit of luck, if the browser doesn't interfere, the text should also line up with the column index. You are free to just retype and exchange individual cards – for a lengthy program, it's probably the most convenient option. There's also a bit of greeenbar (though not too green and the non-US type) in the reader output (and it's planned for the output of the FORTRAN runtime.)
duxup 7y ago
Are there any example punch cards we can select and then read and execute just to try it?
- masswerk 7y ago
  There's a link to a demo stack (zip archive) at the front page for a Tic Tac Toe program written in Python. (The download has a few MB as the archive comprises 146 cards / images...) URL: https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-TicTacToe-Py.zip https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta... (You may drop both the zip or the unpacked images onto the reader.)
  - duxup 7y ago
    Thank you! Not sure how I missed that.
    - masswerk 7y ago
      Here's another (shorter) one, demonstrating a nifty feature to auto-transform code case for cards submitted in an upper-case only format. (Here, switch the runtime to "JavaScript" in order to execute.) https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-JS-on-Standard.zip https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta...
cpr 7y ago
Wow, quite viscerally brings back memories of using punch card decks (Fortran on an IBM 1130) in a high school Explorer post at Teledyne Ryan in San Diego in the late 60's, then in the early 70's (last year of high school) at the Navel Electronics Lab on Point Loma on an IBM 360/65 with an unheard-of ONE MEGABYTE of "large core storage" (cost $1/byte at the time). Fun!
- masswerk 7y ago
  At least, dropping a zip file shouldn't be as punishing as dropping a real card stack. :-) Also, 1MB must have been really massive then. (Nowadays, a zip archive of a few card images easily has a multiple of that.)

46 points by masswerk 7y ago

Not quite the true experience. It should first start with writing the program on a standard coding form (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.pn...), after which it is sent to the keypunch department. When the deck and card listing come back the next day, the programmer would proofread the listing and use a Type 029 to replace misspunched cards and insert/delete to correct bugs found in re-reading. This was somewhat laborious, since most programmers did not type well, and unlike the simulation, the 029 did not have a backspace key. JCL or other control language cards as needed by the operating system would have to be punched to define memory needed, tape drives, disk drives, department chargeback accounts, etc. And the output would come back after a few hours on 132 column greenbar fanfold.

masswerk 7y ago
The input text-area should be styled as the respective COBOL and FORTRAN coding forms. With a bit of luck, if the browser doesn't interfere, the text should also line up with the column index. You are free to just retype and exchange individual cards – for a lengthy program, it's probably the most convenient option. There's also a bit of greeenbar (though not too green and the non-US type) in the reader output (and it's planned for the output of the FORTRAN runtime.)

duxup 7y ago

Are there any example punch cards we can select and then read and execute just to try it?

masswerk 7y ago
There's a link to a demo stack (zip archive) at the front page for a Tic Tac Toe program written in Python. (The download has a few MB as the archive comprises 146 cards / images...) URL: https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-TicTacToe-Py.zip https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta... (You may drop both the zip or the unpacked images onto the reader.)
- duxup 7y ago
  Thank you! Not sure how I missed that.
  - masswerk 7y ago
    Here's another (shorter) one, demonstrating a nifty feature to auto-transform code case for cards submitted in an upper-case only format. (Here, switch the runtime to "JavaScript" in order to execute.) https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-JS-on-Standard.zip https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta...

cpr 7y ago

Wow, quite viscerally brings back memories of using punch card decks (Fortran on an IBM 1130) in a high school Explorer post at Teledyne Ryan in San Diego in the late 60's, then in the early 70's (last year of high school) at the Navel Electronics Lab on Point Loma on an IBM 360/65 with an unheard-of ONE MEGABYTE of "large core storage" (cost $1/byte at the time). Fun!

masswerk 7y ago
At least, dropping a zip file shouldn't be as punishing as dropping a real card stack. :-) Also, 1MB must have been really massive then. (Nowadays, a zip archive of a few card images easily has a multiple of that.)