At least cards didn't tend to damage you too badly. Before punched cards there was paper tape, which I had to use to program a Varian 16-bit mini in the early 8

At least cards didn't tend to damage you too badly. Before punched cards there was paper tape, which I had to use to program a Varian 16-bit mini in the early 80s. After punching your tape you'd take the reel and feed it into the mechanical reader, which read at a couple of inches per second, steadying it with your hand as it slowly fed through. I go on vacation. Fast forward to two weeks later, when I'm about to feed my program into the machine, not noticing the spiffy new optical tape reader. I steady the tape with my hand, press start... and it reads at about 10 feet per second. There was yelling and blood everywhere. Quite some paper cut. Cards were very welcome after that.