4 ms·

One of the saddest things I saw in college was a poor fellow walking along with a box filled with punch cards. It was a windy, blustery day. He stumbled, droppe

by every 7y ago

One of the saddest things I saw in college was a poor fellow walking along with a box filled with punch cards. It was a windy, blustery day. He stumbled, dropped the box and cards flew free in every direction. I will never forget the oaths and screams of terror as he ran after them...

Taniwha 7y ago
I saw that once too, I was holding on to a tree in a gale, the woman's thesis data blew over campus building. A classmate lost the box containing her thesis project off of her motorbike on a rainy day, she gathered up the cards, took them home, ironed them and ran them through the card sorter (by sequence number) and then punched out a new set
- 3pt14159 7y ago
  Why didn't people occasionally photo the cards out on a table or floor? Seems so irresponsible to allow fate to control a graduate degree.
  - jofer 7y ago
    That's a lot of film, you'd need a really really really big floor, and it'd be easier to make a duplicate set at that point. Also, as someone who spent a decade in grad school (short for my field, actually), I assure you that graduate degrees are still very much up to fate. Different ways now, but same effect!
    - sushid 7y ago
      Seriously. Still now you hear about grad students forced to redo years of research all over again because their lab lost power for a few hours and whatnot. Could the underpaid grad student have lobbied for a backup power generator? Perhaps, but Fate can be cruel.
  - fragmede 7y ago
    Cameras were far more expensive back in the day. Not just the camera or the lenses, but also the film, and then you'd also have to pay to get the film developed. Fast photo processing was only just taking off (late 70's). Taking a good photo was hard and an entire discipline unto itself. You had to develop an eye to know what F-stop and aperture and other settings to use, and then wait a day before seeing if the picture even came out. It wouldn't have been a quick "lemme lay the photos out real quick" setup. You'd probably end up moving all of the lights in the house into the living room just to get enough light for the shot, and then play around with camera settings for half-an-hour before taking the first shot.
fragmede 7y ago
Such a disaster was a rare, but unfortunately it happened. A heavy black marker diagonally down the side made it a lot easier to reassemble the cards in the right order.
- derekp7 7y ago
  What about having a hole in a corner that you could run a string or wire through? Was there a spot to position a hole that wouldn't interfere with the card reader? Heck, if possible I would do a 3 ring binder. Or rubber bands at a minimum.
  - zzo38computer 7y ago
    Depending on the data format, it might be possible. For example, punch "I" in the first or last column of each card if the first or last column of the card is not used by the program. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the data formats of punched cards, as I have never used them (except in an emulation of Knuth's MIX system).
- dano 7y ago
  Yes, this was common practice, especially after your first drop without such markings.

by every 7y ago

Taniwha 7y ago

I saw that once too, I was holding on to a tree in a gale, the woman's thesis data blew over campus building. A classmate lost the box containing her thesis project off of her motorbike on a rainy day, she gathered up the cards, took them home, ironed them and ran them through the card sorter (by sequence number) and then punched out a new set

3pt14159 7y ago
Why didn't people occasionally photo the cards out on a table or floor? Seems so irresponsible to allow fate to control a graduate degree.
- jofer 7y ago
  That's a lot of film, you'd need a really really really big floor, and it'd be easier to make a duplicate set at that point. Also, as someone who spent a decade in grad school (short for my field, actually), I assure you that graduate degrees are still very much up to fate. Different ways now, but same effect!
  - sushid 7y ago
    Seriously. Still now you hear about grad students forced to redo years of research all over again because their lab lost power for a few hours and whatnot. Could the underpaid grad student have lobbied for a backup power generator? Perhaps, but Fate can be cruel.
- fragmede 7y ago
  Cameras were far more expensive back in the day. Not just the camera or the lenses, but also the film, and then you'd also have to pay to get the film developed. Fast photo processing was only just taking off (late 70's). Taking a good photo was hard and an entire discipline unto itself. You had to develop an eye to know what F-stop and aperture and other settings to use, and then wait a day before seeing if the picture even came out. It wouldn't have been a quick "lemme lay the photos out real quick" setup. You'd probably end up moving all of the lights in the house into the living room just to get enough light for the shot, and then play around with camera settings for half-an-hour before taking the first shot.

fragmede 7y ago

Such a disaster was a rare, but unfortunately it happened. A heavy black marker diagonally down the side made it a lot easier to reassemble the cards in the right order.

derekp7 7y ago
What about having a hole in a corner that you could run a string or wire through? Was there a spot to position a hole that wouldn't interfere with the card reader? Heck, if possible I would do a 3 ring binder. Or rubber bands at a minimum.
- zzo38computer 7y ago
  Depending on the data format, it might be possible. For example, punch "I" in the first or last column of each card if the first or last column of the card is not used by the program. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the data formats of punched cards, as I have never used them (except in an emulation of Knuth's MIX system).
dano 7y ago
Yes, this was common practice, especially after your first drop without such markings.