On: How did people deal with punch cards?

[dbcurtis]

> Often the wait for your output was long and excruciating.

I solved that problem by getting a 10 hour per week job at a remote batch submittal station. It was in a quiet corner of campus, so I mostly had a card reader and line printer to myself :)

Oh... My favorite punch card trick that doesn't work well on "glass teletypes":

  debug = 0; /*/ ;1 = gubed
  */

[joemi → dbcurtis]

I think I understand how your punch card trick worked for the most part, but how'd the last line work?

[ahazred8ta → joemi]

He would flip the card left to right. debug = 1

[joemi → ahazred8ta]

I under stand the flipping. But the last line (as written) wouldn't be read correctly, so the commenting out of `;0 = gubed` would never close.

I think another commenter figured it out, and the last line would need to be on a separate card.

[RedNifre → joemi]

The last line would be on a separate card, so it does not need to be reversible.

I wonder if you could write this on one card like

  /**/ debug = 1; /*/ ;0 = gubed /**/

[joemi → RedNifre]

That's what was tripping me up. I thought the last line was on the same card, so the close of the comment wouldn't be read correctly.

[Smoosh → joemi]

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