[HN Gopher] Virtual Punch Card Creator
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       Virtual Punch Card Creator
        
       Author : eniac111
       Score  : 74 points
       Date   : 2025-03-07 21:15 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.masswerk.at)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.masswerk.at)
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | Fun.
       | 
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _Tristan Davey 's Punch Card Archive_
       | 
       | https://punchcards.tristandavey.com/
        
       | masswerk wrote:
       | There's also a more advanced version that lets you experience the
       | joys of punch-card programming with modern languages (JS, Perl,
       | Python (mostly Python2)):
       | 
       | https://www.masswerk.at/card-readpunch/
       | 
       | (Demo-stacks are available for download on the landing page.)
        
       | timonoko wrote:
       | Nothing fun about cards. I had my Fortran exercise in a backpack
       | when I bicycled to to Finnish government computer centre. It was
       | raining, so the cards turned little bit mushy and jammed the
       | machine.
       | 
       | Sabotage and high treason, basically.
        
       | nils-m-holm wrote:
       | Here is a postscript file that generates punch card images:
       | http://t3x.org/lfn/punchcard.eps
       | 
       | Context: http://t3x.org/lfn/index.html
        
       | masswerk wrote:
       | BTW: This is from 2012.
       | 
       | There's also a corresponding card reader to interpret these
       | cards: https://www.masswerk.at/cardreader/
       | 
       | This was a spin-off of a now long defunct custom Google search
       | interface. Compare (while Google closed their public search API
       | in 2016, there are a few cached search results available; users
       | of a certain age may also try "list games"):
       | https://www.masswerk.at/google60/
        
       | thih9 wrote:
       | It's possible to draw a heart:                   /KCDEOXOEDCK/
       | 
       | Wider:                   /KLCDDENOXONEDDCLK/
        
         | teddyh wrote:
         | Verified:                 $ echo /KCDEOXOEDCK/ | bcd
         | ________________________________________________
         | //KCDEOXOEDCK/                                   |       |  ]]]
         | ]]]                                     |       | ]   ] ]   ]
         | |       |]     ]     ]                                   |
         | |]11111111111]11111111111111111111111111111111111|
         | |2]222222222]222222222222222222222222222222222222|
         | |33]3333333]3333333333333333333333333333333333333|
         | |444]44444]44444444444444444444444444444444444444|
         | |5555]555]555555555555555555555555555555555555555|
         | |66666]6]6666666666666666666666666666666666666666|
         | |777777]77777777777777777777777777777777777777777|
         | |888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888|
         | |999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999|
         | |________________________________________________|       $ echo
         | /KLCDDENOXONEDDCLK/ | bcd
         | ________________________________________________
         | //KLCDDENOXONEDDCLK/                             |       |
         | ]]]]     ]]]]                                |       | ]]    ]]
         | ]]    ]]                              |       |]        ]
         | ]                             |
         | |]11111111111111111]11111111111111111111111111111|
         | |2]222222222222222]222222222222222222222222222222|
         | |33]]33333333333]]3333333333333333333333333333333|
         | |4444]]4444444]]444444444444444444444444444444444|
         | |555555]]555]]55555555555555555555555555555555555|
         | |66666666]6]6666666666666666666666666666666666666|
         | |777777777]77777777777777777777777777777777777777|
         | |888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888|
         | |999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999|
         | |________________________________________________|
        
       | GnarfGnarf wrote:
       | It is possible to store three decimal digits as three groups of
       | four bits, in every 12-row column.
       | 
       | You can insert and delete when duplicating cards, by pressing
       | with your fingers on the source or target card while typing on
       | the keyboard.
        
       | amenghra wrote:
       | If you are into punchcards, I wrote a multipart blog post about
       | recovering and running some 40-years old code which was
       | originally on punch tape.
       | 
       | See https://www.quaxio.com/kaleidoscope_part1/
        
         | teddyh wrote:
         | It seems that you have not yet gotten to the part of actually
         | reading from the tape.
        
           | amenghra wrote:
           | In part 1, I build an emulator to run the code. In part 2 I
           | verify that the punchcard data matches the source code I
           | found online (https://www.quaxio.com/kaleidoscope_part2/). I
           | performed this "reading from the tape" operation using
           | inkscape since I only have a picture of the tape, I don't
           | actually have a copy of the tape. In part 3 I show the
           | structure of the code
           | (https://www.quaxio.com/kaleidoscope_part3/).
        
       | MisterTea wrote:
       | Next up is a virtual punch card dropper where you play the
       | equivalent of 52 card pickup but with more cards and they must be
       | shuffled in-order. Fun for all ages.
        
       | teddyh wrote:
       | bcd(6)
       | 
       | <https://manpages.debian.org/bookworm/bsdgames/bcd.6.en.html>
        
       | teddyh wrote:
       | It's missing a card reader to jam by feeding your lace card into
       | it.
        
       | mncharity wrote:
       | What I remember most is the sound[1][2]. _chunk_ _chunk_ _chunk_
       | _chunk_
       | 
       | [1] typing after a restoration
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLptl0cKSc&list=PL-_93BVApb...
       | [2] normal fast typing
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnnGbcM-H8c&t=28s
        
       | acrophiliac wrote:
       | Oh my gosh, the flashbacks this triggered. It was the audio that
       | did it. Amazing.
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-10 23:02 UTC)