yes, but curiously, punch cards do not use any system that we use today... they were created to move data at a time of analog computers.. as i recall, punch card technology was on the way out as i was joining the world of computers.. all i remember was they were not digital, and did not use binary/octal/hex notations... but something else again...

its almost two different technologies (punch card from textiles, and binary from knitting) are used in different ways in a third technical craft, computers! connections with connections and connections!

and yes, a program (either a computer program or a pattern for knitting) is just a set of dirctions. Neither is inteligent!




I used punch cards a lot in the early 80s (and paper tape as well mid 70s). The punch cards are binary (digital). The hole is open or closed. At one time punched cards or tape were used by nearly every digital computer.

OTOH, I doubt the hollerith codes on the cards were ASCII. I imagine it's related to IBM's other code - EBCDIC, that or Baudot codes.

There's some interesting stuff at http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/characcodehist.html.

According to http://www.totse.com/en/technology/telecommunications/x25tut.html
the code is still in use, but they aren't specific. Hard to believe, I know, but people (in which group I include myself) are slow to change systems that work (no matter how poorly).

I saw several people working on programs drop their cards - and a number of them reduced to public sobbing. I don't miss those days at all.


k