green card

( n.)

   [after  the  IBM  System/360  Reference  Data  card]  A summary of an
   assembly  language,  even  if  the color is not green and not a card.
   Less  frequently  used  now  because  of  the  decrease in the use of
   assembly  language.  "I'll  go  get  my green card so I can check the
   addressing mode for that instruction."

   The  original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was
   introduced,  and  later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers
   to  a  scene  that  took  place  in  a  programmers' terminal room at
   Yorktown  in  1978.  A  {luser}  overheard one of the programmers ask
   another  "Do you have a green card?" The other grunted and passed the
   first  a  thick  yellow  booklet.  At  this  point the luser turned a
   delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return.

   In  fall  2000  it was reported from Electronic Data Systems that the
   green card for 370 machines has been a blue-green booklet since 1989.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {punched card}{yellow card}]