Subj : Re: New Pico2 To : Dennis From : Charlie Gibbs Date : Wed Aug 14 2024 16:52:27 On 2024-08-14, Dennis wrote: > On 8/14/24 07:27, Single Stage to Orbit wrote: > >> I suppose you'll now tell us about the joys of using punched cards. >> I don't envy you the joys of sorting a pile of punched cards that's >> been dropped on the floor ... > > That is why you put a sequence number in col 73-80. A few passes on the > sorter and no problem. Sometimes you got lucky, and the dropped deck would smear itself across the floor in such a way that, if you were careful, you could gather the cards up in sequence. The sequence numbers in columns 73-80 were primarily for source code. Data decks were usually sorted on various other columns (e.g. customer number and/or date). I soon gave up on punching sequence numbers in source decks. Our programs were subject to frequent modifications that required moving large blocks of code around, which meant that the sequence numbers became meaningless. You would have to re-punch the deck using a utility that re-generated the sequence numbers - and then you'd need to run the new deck through an interpreter so you could read what was on the cards. It usually wasn't worth the effort. -- /~\ Charlie Gibbs | We'll go down in history as the \ / | first society that wouldn't save X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | itself because it wasn't cost- / \ if you read it the right way. | effective. -- Kurt Vonnegut --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3) .