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> Older IBM machines could only read 72 columns of the 80 columns of data. That applied to the early scientific line, the 70x series, as a side effect of their
by kps 7y ago
> Older IBM machines could only read 72 columns of the 80 columns of data.
That applied to the early scientific line, the 70x series, as a side effect of their 36-bit word size — they read each card row into two words. Fortran gave them lasting influence.
(Their earliest commercial computer, the IBM 650, could read 50 columns — any 50, determined by wiring a plugboard, as on pre-computer card processing equipment.)
- eesmith 7y agoAhh, I see. Yes, my experience is with some data format defined in the early 1970s using FORTRAN format statements, almost certainly because of IBM's scientific line.