[techspeak] (alt.: punch card) The signature medium of computing's
{Stone Age}, now obsolescent. The punched card actually predated
computers considerably, originating in 1801 as a control device for
mechanical looms. The version patented by Hollerith and used with
mechanical tabulating machines in the 1890 U.S. Census was a piece of
cardboard about 90 mm by 215 mm. There is a widespread myth that it
was designed to fit in the currency trays used for that era's larger
dollar bills, but recent investigations have falsified this.
IBM (which originated as a tabulating-machine manufacturer) married
the punched card to computers, encoding binary information as
patterns of small rectangular holes; one character per column, 80
columns per card. Other coding schemes, sizes of card, and hole
shapes were tried at various times.
The 80-column width of most character terminals is a legacy of the
IBM punched card; so is the size of the quick-reference cards
distributed with many varieties of computers even today. See {chad},
{chad box}, {eighty-column mind}, {green card}, {dusty deck}, {code
grinder}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {EBCDIC}{eighty-column mind}{retrocomputing}]