
Show HN: Virtual Card Read-Punch – Punch, Read, Execute Virtual Punch Cards - masswerk
https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/
======
Merrill
Not quite the true experience. It should first start with writing the program
on a standard coding form
([https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.pn...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FortranCodingForm.png)),
after which it is sent to the keypunch department. When the deck and card
listing come back the next day, the programmer would proofread the listing and
use a Type 029 to replace misspunched cards and insert/delete to correct bugs
found in re-reading. This was somewhat laborious, since most programmers did
not type well, and unlike the simulation, the 029 did not have a backspace
key. JCL or other control language cards as needed by the operating system
would have to be punched to define memory needed, tape drives, disk drives,
department chargeback accounts, etc. And the output would come back after a
few hours on 132 column greenbar fanfold.

~~~
masswerk
The input text-area should be styled as the respective COBOL and FORTRAN
coding forms. With a bit of luck, if the browser doesn't interfere, the text
should also line up with the column index. You are free to just retype and
exchange individual cards – for a lengthy program, it's probably the most
convenient option. There's also a bit of greeenbar (though not too green and
the non-US type) in the reader output (and it's planned for the output of the
FORTRAN runtime.)

------
cpr
Wow, quite viscerally brings back memories of using punch card decks (Fortran
on an IBM 1130) in a high school Explorer post at Teledyne Ryan in San Diego
in the late 60's, then in the early 70's (last year of high school) at the
Navel Electronics Lab on Point Loma on an IBM 360/65 with an unheard-of ONE
MEGABYTE of "large core storage" (cost $1/byte at the time).

Fun!

~~~
masswerk
At least, dropping a zip file shouldn't be as punishing as dropping a real
card stack. :-)

Also, 1MB must have been really massive then. (Nowadays, a zip archive of a
few card images easily has a multiple of that.)

------
duxup
Are there any example punch cards we can select and then read and execute just
to try it?

~~~
masswerk
There's a link to a demo stack (zip archive) at the front page for a Tic Tac
Toe program written in Python. (The download has a few MB as the archive
comprises 146 cards / images...)

URL: [https://www.masswerk.at/card-
readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta...](https://www.masswerk.at/card-
readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-TicTacToe-Py.zip)

(You may drop both the zip or the unpacked images onto the reader.)

~~~
duxup
Thank you!

Not sure how I missed that.

~~~
masswerk
Here's another (shorter) one, demonstrating a nifty feature to auto-transform
code case for cards submitted in an upper-case only format. (Here, switch the
runtime to "JavaScript" in order to execute.)

[https://www.masswerk.at/card-
readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardSta...](https://www.masswerk.at/card-
readpunch/stacks/VirtualCardStack-JS-on-Standard.zip)

