in the 60s time on the machine was really really expensive. You'd never code online as that would waste loads of time that could be sold to other people. So yo

in the 60s time on the machine was really really expensive. You'd never code online as that would waste loads of time that could be sold to other people. So you would need to write out your program manually. You'd need to explain in clear english what you were doing and why. Then you'd transcribe into machine language (or an intermediary if you were using something fancy like assembly) you can see part of the process here: http://ict1301.co.uk/13010310.htm http://ict1301.co.uk/13010310.htm Then you'd put them onto card or tape, but that might be done by someone else. Typist were a specialised and often exclusively feminine profession, often seen as something not done by "programmers". byt the mid 60s though, it was much more common to have programmers type their own shit. Then once thats done, you'd deliver the media (card desk or paper tape, later on other things) to the operator, who would run the programme and return the results. You'd stack your programmes in queues. (hence where we get that name from)