#punchcards — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2026-05-27 · 04:06 UTC

IBM's ancient #training #film resurfaces like a relic from the digital Stone Age, desperately trying to keep its secrets away from the prying eyes of the 21st century 😂🔒. An archaeological masterpiece for those nostalgic about punch cards and #mainframes 📼💾.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zokKqP0plrM #IBM #DigitalStoneAge #Nostalgia #PunchCards #HackerNews #ngated

#training #film #mainframes #ibm #digitalstoneage #nostalgia

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 08:00 UTC

“Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”*…

Punched cards have a long history in machine control (dating back to Jacquard) and computing (starting with Babbage‘s Difference Engine), but it was Herman Hollerith who brought them into modern computation in the late 1880s… where punch cards remained for about 100 years. From the Smithsonian’s American History Museum…

In the late 1880s, American engineer Herman Hollerith saw a railroad punch card when he was trying to figure out new ways of compiling statistical information for the U.S. Census. His first punch card, like those used on railways, only had holes along the edges. The meaning of each hole was indicated on the card. By the time Hollerith tabulating equipment was used in the 1890 U.S. Census, holes were scattered across the cards, although their meaning was not indicated on it.
Hollerith and his employees at the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C. soon developed punched cards for use in compiling information for commercial enterprises such as railroads. They and staff of the U.S. Census Bureau prepared improved machines—these devices are shown in the object group on tabulating equipment. By the 1920s, the United States had two major manufacturers of punch card equipment, International Business Machines (the descendent of the Tabulating Machine Company) and Remington Rand (the descendent of Powers Accounting Machine Company established by Russian emigré and former Census Bureau employee James Powers). Each manufacturer developed a distinctive standard punch card. IBM cards had eighty columns of rectangular holes while those of Remington Rand had ninety columns of circular holes. Tabulating machines were widely used in both government and commerce, with cards designed to meet the needs of customers. For example, checks issued by the U.S. government often came on punch cards.
When IBM and Remington Rand began selling electronic computers in the years following World War II, punch cards became the preferred method of entering data and programs onto them. They also were used in later minicomputers and some early desktop calculators. Punch cards surviving in the Smithsonian collections reflect the widespread use of computers – they announced scores on standardized tests, served as a library cards, were part of the proof of mathematical theorems, and kept medical records. Some are printed with the names of users, from university computer centers and computer clubs to the Library of Congress to Bell Laboratories…

Browse the collection: “Punch Cards for Data Processing“

See also: here, here, and here.

* Ubiquitous warning on punch cards:

… in the 1950s, after the invention of the computer and its widespread business use, that everyone began to see punch cards. Companies sent punch cards out with bills: the telephone company, utility companies, and even department stores realized that they could save a step in their billing process, as well as making it easier for them to process the returned check, by using the cards themselves as the bills. By the 1960s, punch cards were familiar, everyday objects.
While company employees could be trusted to take care of the cards, the person in the street could not. Warnings were necessary. In the 1930s the University of Iowa used cards for student registration; on each card was printed “Do not fold or bend this card.” Cards reproduced in an IBM sales brochure of the 1930s read “Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this card” and “Do not fold tear or destroy.” I’m not sure when the canonical “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” first appeared; it’s one of those traditions whose author and origin is lost in the mists of time. Let’s consider the words one at a time, stop and take them seriously…
– “A Cultural History of the Punch Card” (from 1991; eminently worth reading in full)

###

As we contemplate chads (of which, punch cards produced a gracious plenty), we might spare a thought for Gerald Hawkins; he died on this date in 2003. An astronomer and author, he was best known for his work in archaeoastronomy— most of all, for his 1965 book, Stonehenge Decoded. In the early 1960s, Hawkins had used punch cards to load data modeling sun and moon movements onto magnetic tapes, then into an IBM 7090. The results led him to conclude, as the book argues, that the features at the monument were arranged in such a way as to predict a variety of astronomical events– that Stonehenge was a giant prehistoric observatory and computer. While some archaeologists are hesitant to accept Hawkins’ theories, many archaeoastronomers have built upon his work. More widely, scholars accept that the importance of astronomical alignment and large complexes being planned and constructed to fulfill cosmology has been demonstrated at other prehistoric sites, such as the Snake Mound and Cahokia in the U.S.

source

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #Babbage #Census #CharlesBabbage #computing #culture #data #GeraldHawkins #HermanHollerith #history #historyOfComputing #Hollerith #input #Jacquard #punchCard #punchCards #Stonehenge #storage #Technology

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #babbage #census #charlesbabbage #computing

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 08:00 UTC

“Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”*…

Punched cards have a long history in machine control (dating back to Jacquard) and computing (starting with Babbage‘s Difference Engine), but it was Herman Hollerith who brought them into modern computation in the late 1880s… where punch cards remained for about 100 years. From the Smithsonian’s American History Museum…

In the late 1880s, American engineer Herman Hollerith saw a railroad punch card when he was trying to figure out new ways of compiling statistical information for the U.S. Census. His first punch card, like those used on railways, only had holes along the edges. The meaning of each hole was indicated on the card. By the time Hollerith tabulating equipment was used in the 1890 U.S. Census, holes were scattered across the cards, although their meaning was not indicated on it.
Hollerith and his employees at the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C. soon developed punched cards for use in compiling information for commercial enterprises such as railroads. They and staff of the U.S. Census Bureau prepared improved machines—these devices are shown in the object group on tabulating equipment. By the 1920s, the United States had two major manufacturers of punch card equipment, International Business Machines (the descendent of the Tabulating Machine Company) and Remington Rand (the descendent of Powers Accounting Machine Company established by Russian emigré and former Census Bureau employee James Powers). Each manufacturer developed a distinctive standard punch card. IBM cards had eighty columns of rectangular holes while those of Remington Rand had ninety columns of circular holes. Tabulating machines were widely used in both government and commerce, with cards designed to meet the needs of customers. For example, checks issued by the U.S. government often came on punch cards.
When IBM and Remington Rand began selling electronic computers in the years following World War II, punch cards became the preferred method of entering data and programs onto them. They also were used in later minicomputers and some early desktop calculators. Punch cards surviving in the Smithsonian collections reflect the widespread use of computers – they announced scores on standardized tests, served as a library cards, were part of the proof of mathematical theorems, and kept medical records. Some are printed with the names of users, from university computer centers and computer clubs to the Library of Congress to Bell Laboratories…

Browse the collection: “Punch Cards for Data Processing“

See also: here, here, and here.

* Ubiquitous warning on punch cards:

… in the 1950s, after the invention of the computer and its widespread business use, that everyone began to see punch cards. Companies sent punch cards out with bills: the telephone company, utility companies, and even department stores realized that they could save a step in their billing process, as well as making it easier for them to process the returned check, by using the cards themselves as the bills. By the 1960s, punch cards were familiar, everyday objects.
While company employees could be trusted to take care of the cards, the person in the street could not. Warnings were necessary. In the 1930s the University of Iowa used cards for student registration; on each card was printed “Do not fold or bend this card.” Cards reproduced in an IBM sales brochure of the 1930s read “Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this card” and “Do not fold tear or destroy.” I’m not sure when the canonical “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” first appeared; it’s one of those traditions whose author and origin is lost in the mists of time. Let’s consider the words one at a time, stop and take them seriously…
– “A Cultural History of the Punch Card” (from 1991; eminently worth reading in full)

###

As we contemplate chads (of which, punch cards produced a gracious plenty), we might spare a thought for Gerald Hawkins; he died on this date in 2003. An astronomer and author, he was best known for his work in archaeoastronomy— most of all, for his 1965 book, Stonehenge Decoded. In the early 1960s, Hawkins had used punch cards to load data modeling sun and moon movements onto magnetic tapes, then into an IBM 7090. The results led him to conclude, as the book argues, that the features at the monument were arranged in such a way as to predict a variety of astronomical events– that Stonehenge was a giant prehistoric observatory and computer. While some archaeologists are hesitant to accept Hawkins’ theories, many archaeoastronomers have built upon his work. More widely, scholars accept that the importance of astronomical alignment and large complexes being planned and constructed to fulfill cosmology has been demonstrated at other prehistoric sites, such as the Snake Mound and Cahokia in the U.S.

source

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #Babbage #Census #CharlesBabbage #computing #culture #data #GeraldHawkins #HermanHollerith #history #historyOfComputing #Hollerith #input #Jacquard #punchCard #punchCards #Stonehenge #storage #Technology

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #babbage #census #charlesbabbage #computing

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 08:00 UTC

“Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”*…

Punched cards have a long history in machine control (dating back to Jacquard) and computing (starting with Babbage‘s Difference Engine), but it was Herman Hollerith who brought them into modern computation in the late 1880s… where punch cards remained for about 100 years. From the Smithsonian’s American History Museum…

In the late 1880s, American engineer Herman Hollerith saw a railroad punch card when he was trying to figure out new ways of compiling statistical information for the U.S. Census. His first punch card, like those used on railways, only had holes along the edges. The meaning of each hole was indicated on the card. By the time Hollerith tabulating equipment was used in the 1890 U.S. Census, holes were scattered across the cards, although their meaning was not indicated on it.
Hollerith and his employees at the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C. soon developed punched cards for use in compiling information for commercial enterprises such as railroads. They and staff of the U.S. Census Bureau prepared improved machines—these devices are shown in the object group on tabulating equipment. By the 1920s, the United States had two major manufacturers of punch card equipment, International Business Machines (the descendent of the Tabulating Machine Company) and Remington Rand (the descendent of Powers Accounting Machine Company established by Russian emigré and former Census Bureau employee James Powers). Each manufacturer developed a distinctive standard punch card. IBM cards had eighty columns of rectangular holes while those of Remington Rand had ninety columns of circular holes. Tabulating machines were widely used in both government and commerce, with cards designed to meet the needs of customers. For example, checks issued by the U.S. government often came on punch cards.
When IBM and Remington Rand began selling electronic computers in the years following World War II, punch cards became the preferred method of entering data and programs onto them. They also were used in later minicomputers and some early desktop calculators. Punch cards surviving in the Smithsonian collections reflect the widespread use of computers – they announced scores on standardized tests, served as a library cards, were part of the proof of mathematical theorems, and kept medical records. Some are printed with the names of users, from university computer centers and computer clubs to the Library of Congress to Bell Laboratories…

Browse the collection: “Punch Cards for Data Processing“

See also: here, here, and here.

* Ubiquitous warning on punch cards:

… in the 1950s, after the invention of the computer and its widespread business use, that everyone began to see punch cards. Companies sent punch cards out with bills: the telephone company, utility companies, and even department stores realized that they could save a step in their billing process, as well as making it easier for them to process the returned check, by using the cards themselves as the bills. By the 1960s, punch cards were familiar, everyday objects.
While company employees could be trusted to take care of the cards, the person in the street could not. Warnings were necessary. In the 1930s the University of Iowa used cards for student registration; on each card was printed “Do not fold or bend this card.” Cards reproduced in an IBM sales brochure of the 1930s read “Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this card” and “Do not fold tear or destroy.” I’m not sure when the canonical “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” first appeared; it’s one of those traditions whose author and origin is lost in the mists of time. Let’s consider the words one at a time, stop and take them seriously…
– “A Cultural History of the Punch Card” (from 1991; eminently worth reading in full)

###

As we contemplate chads (of which, punch cards produced a gracious plenty), we might spare a thought for Gerald Hawkins; he died on this date in 2003. An astronomer and author, he was best known for his work in archaeoastronomy— most of all, for his 1965 book, Stonehenge Decoded. In the early 1960s, Hawkins had used punch cards to load data modeling sun and moon movements onto magnetic tapes, then into an IBM 7090. The results led him to conclude, as the book argues, that the features at the monument were arranged in such a way as to predict a variety of astronomical events– that Stonehenge was a giant prehistoric observatory and computer. While some archaeologists are hesitant to accept Hawkins’ theories, many archaeoastronomers have built upon his work. More widely, scholars accept that the importance of astronomical alignment and large complexes being planned and constructed to fulfill cosmology has been demonstrated at other prehistoric sites, such as the Snake Mound and Cahokia in the U.S.

source

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #Babbage #Census #CharlesBabbage #computing #culture #data #GeraldHawkins #HermanHollerith #history #historyOfComputing #Hollerith #input #Jacquard #punchCard #punchCards #Stonehenge #storage #Technology

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #babbage #census #charlesbabbage #computing

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 08:00 UTC

“Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”*…

Punched cards have a long history in machine control (dating back to Jacquard) and computing (starting with Babbage‘s Difference Engine), but it was Herman Hollerith who brought them into modern computation in the late 1880s… where punch cards remained for about 100 years. From the Smithsonian’s American History Museum…

In the late 1880s, American engineer Herman Hollerith saw a railroad punch card when he was trying to figure out new ways of compiling statistical information for the U.S. Census. His first punch card, like those used on railways, only had holes along the edges. The meaning of each hole was indicated on the card. By the time Hollerith tabulating equipment was used in the 1890 U.S. Census, holes were scattered across the cards, although their meaning was not indicated on it.
Hollerith and his employees at the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C. soon developed punched cards for use in compiling information for commercial enterprises such as railroads. They and staff of the U.S. Census Bureau prepared improved machines—these devices are shown in the object group on tabulating equipment. By the 1920s, the United States had two major manufacturers of punch card equipment, International Business Machines (the descendent of the Tabulating Machine Company) and Remington Rand (the descendent of Powers Accounting Machine Company established by Russian emigré and former Census Bureau employee James Powers). Each manufacturer developed a distinctive standard punch card. IBM cards had eighty columns of rectangular holes while those of Remington Rand had ninety columns of circular holes. Tabulating machines were widely used in both government and commerce, with cards designed to meet the needs of customers. For example, checks issued by the U.S. government often came on punch cards.
When IBM and Remington Rand began selling electronic computers in the years following World War II, punch cards became the preferred method of entering data and programs onto them. They also were used in later minicomputers and some early desktop calculators. Punch cards surviving in the Smithsonian collections reflect the widespread use of computers – they announced scores on standardized tests, served as a library cards, were part of the proof of mathematical theorems, and kept medical records. Some are printed with the names of users, from university computer centers and computer clubs to the Library of Congress to Bell Laboratories…

Browse the collection: “Punch Cards for Data Processing“

See also: here, here, and here.

* Ubiquitous warning on punch cards:

… in the 1950s, after the invention of the computer and its widespread business use, that everyone began to see punch cards. Companies sent punch cards out with bills: the telephone company, utility companies, and even department stores realized that they could save a step in their billing process, as well as making it easier for them to process the returned check, by using the cards themselves as the bills. By the 1960s, punch cards were familiar, everyday objects.
While company employees could be trusted to take care of the cards, the person in the street could not. Warnings were necessary. In the 1930s the University of Iowa used cards for student registration; on each card was printed “Do not fold or bend this card.” Cards reproduced in an IBM sales brochure of the 1930s read “Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this card” and “Do not fold tear or destroy.” I’m not sure when the canonical “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” first appeared; it’s one of those traditions whose author and origin is lost in the mists of time. Let’s consider the words one at a time, stop and take them seriously…
– “A Cultural History of the Punch Card” (from 1991; eminently worth reading in full)

###

As we contemplate chads (of which, punch cards produced a gracious plenty), we might spare a thought for Gerald Hawkins; he died on this date in 2003. An astronomer and author, he was best known for his work in archaeoastronomy— most of all, for his 1965 book, Stonehenge Decoded. In the early 1960s, Hawkins had used punch cards to load data modeling sun and moon movements onto magnetic tapes, then into an IBM 7090. The results led him to conclude, as the book argues, that the features at the monument were arranged in such a way as to predict a variety of astronomical events– that Stonehenge was a giant prehistoric observatory and computer. While some archaeologists are hesitant to accept Hawkins’ theories, many archaeoastronomers have built upon his work. More widely, scholars accept that the importance of astronomical alignment and large complexes being planned and constructed to fulfill cosmology has been demonstrated at other prehistoric sites, such as the Snake Mound and Cahokia in the U.S.

source

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #Babbage #Census #CharlesBabbage #computing #culture #data #GeraldHawkins #HermanHollerith #history #historyOfComputing #Hollerith #input #Jacquard #punchCard #punchCards #Stonehenge #storage #Technology

#technology #storage #stonehenge #punchcards #punchcard #jacquard

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 08:00 UTC

“Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”*…

Punched cards have a long history in machine control (dating back to Jacquard) and computing (starting with Babbage‘s Difference Engine), but it was Herman Hollerith who brought them into modern computation in the late 1880s… where punch cards remained for about 100 years. From the Smithsonian’s American History Museum…

In the late 1880s, American engineer Herman Hollerith saw a railroad punch card when he was trying to figure out new ways of compiling statistical information for the U.S. Census. His first punch card, like those used on railways, only had holes along the edges. The meaning of each hole was indicated on the card. By the time Hollerith tabulating equipment was used in the 1890 U.S. Census, holes were scattered across the cards, although their meaning was not indicated on it.
Hollerith and his employees at the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C. soon developed punched cards for use in compiling information for commercial enterprises such as railroads. They and staff of the U.S. Census Bureau prepared improved machines—these devices are shown in the object group on tabulating equipment. By the 1920s, the United States had two major manufacturers of punch card equipment, International Business Machines (the descendent of the Tabulating Machine Company) and Remington Rand (the descendent of Powers Accounting Machine Company established by Russian emigré and former Census Bureau employee James Powers). Each manufacturer developed a distinctive standard punch card. IBM cards had eighty columns of rectangular holes while those of Remington Rand had ninety columns of circular holes. Tabulating machines were widely used in both government and commerce, with cards designed to meet the needs of customers. For example, checks issued by the U.S. government often came on punch cards.
When IBM and Remington Rand began selling electronic computers in the years following World War II, punch cards became the preferred method of entering data and programs onto them. They also were used in later minicomputers and some early desktop calculators. Punch cards surviving in the Smithsonian collections reflect the widespread use of computers – they announced scores on standardized tests, served as a library cards, were part of the proof of mathematical theorems, and kept medical records. Some are printed with the names of users, from university computer centers and computer clubs to the Library of Congress to Bell Laboratories…

Browse the collection: “Punch Cards for Data Processing“

See also: here, here, and here.

* Ubiquitous warning on punch cards:

… in the 1950s, after the invention of the computer and its widespread business use, that everyone began to see punch cards. Companies sent punch cards out with bills: the telephone company, utility companies, and even department stores realized that they could save a step in their billing process, as well as making it easier for them to process the returned check, by using the cards themselves as the bills. By the 1960s, punch cards were familiar, everyday objects.
While company employees could be trusted to take care of the cards, the person in the street could not. Warnings were necessary. In the 1930s the University of Iowa used cards for student registration; on each card was printed “Do not fold or bend this card.” Cards reproduced in an IBM sales brochure of the 1930s read “Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this card” and “Do not fold tear or destroy.” I’m not sure when the canonical “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” first appeared; it’s one of those traditions whose author and origin is lost in the mists of time. Let’s consider the words one at a time, stop and take them seriously…
– “A Cultural History of the Punch Card” (from 1991; eminently worth reading in full)

###

As we contemplate chads (of which, punch cards produced a gracious plenty), we might spare a thought for Gerald Hawkins; he died on this date in 2003. An astronomer and author, he was best known for his work in archaeoastronomy— most of all, for his 1965 book, Stonehenge Decoded. In the early 1960s, Hawkins had used punch cards to load data modeling sun and moon movements onto magnetic tapes, then into an IBM 7090. The results led him to conclude, as the book argues, that the features at the monument were arranged in such a way as to predict a variety of astronomical events– that Stonehenge was a giant prehistoric observatory and computer. While some archaeologists are hesitant to accept Hawkins’ theories, many archaeoastronomers have built upon his work. More widely, scholars accept that the importance of astronomical alignment and large complexes being planned and constructed to fulfill cosmology has been demonstrated at other prehistoric sites, such as the Snake Mound and Cahokia in the U.S.

source

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #Babbage #Census #CharlesBabbage #computing #culture #data #GeraldHawkins #HermanHollerith #history #historyOfComputing #Hollerith #input #Jacquard #punchCard #punchCards #Stonehenge #storage #Technology

#archaeoastronomy #astronomy #babbage #census #charlesbabbage #computing

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 03:50 UTC

🤔 Ah, the glorious punch card—because who wouldn't want to browse a museum of ancient #accounting relics in 2023? 😴 It's a digital graveyard for those yearning for the thrill of #obsolete #technology and the scintillating excitement of "manuals and print matter." 📚✨
https://punchcards.tristandavey.com/ #punchcards #history #digitalgraveyard #technostalgia #museumofrelics #HackerNews #ngated

#accounting #obsolete #technology #punchcards #history #digitalgraveyard

Torsten Roeder @[email protected] · 2026-04-22 · 05:40 UTC

In der Hybrid-Vortragsreihe "Hack & Play", die heute um 16 Uhr startet, begrüßen wir als ersten Gast Moritz Feichtinger (@feichtimo), der über sein laufendes Forschungsprojekt "Computing the Social" (www.computingthesocial.net) zur Geschichte der datenbankgestützten Bevölkerungskontrolle im Vietnamkrieg referieren wird. Weitere Infos unter: https://hacknplay2026.rtrlb.de/ #vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

#vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

Torsten Roeder @[email protected] · 2026-04-22 · 05:40 UTC

In der Hybrid-Vortragsreihe "Hack & Play", die heute um 16 Uhr startet, begrüßen wir als ersten Gast Moritz Feichtinger (@feichtimo), der über sein laufendes Forschungsprojekt "Computing the Social" (www.computingthesocial.net) zur Geschichte der datenbankgestützten Bevölkerungskontrolle im Vietnamkrieg referieren wird. Weitere Infos unter: https://hacknplay2026.rtrlb.de/ #vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

#vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

Torsten Roeder @[email protected] · 2026-04-22 · 05:40 UTC

In der Hybrid-Vortragsreihe "Hack & Play", die heute um 16 Uhr startet, begrüßen wir als ersten Gast Moritz Feichtinger (@feichtimo), der über sein laufendes Forschungsprojekt "Computing the Social" (www.computingthesocial.net) zur Geschichte der datenbankgestützten Bevölkerungskontrolle im Vietnamkrieg referieren wird. Weitere Infos unter: https://hacknplay2026.rtrlb.de/ #vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

#vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

Torsten Roeder @[email protected] · 2026-04-22 · 05:40 UTC

In der Hybrid-Vortragsreihe "Hack & Play", die heute um 16 Uhr startet, begrüßen wir als ersten Gast Moritz Feichtinger (@feichtimo), der über sein laufendes Forschungsprojekt "Computing the Social" (www.computingthesocial.net) zur Geschichte der datenbankgestützten Bevölkerungskontrolle im Vietnamkrieg referieren wird. Weitere Infos unter: https://hacknplay2026.rtrlb.de/ #vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

#hacknplay2026 #retrolab #retrocomputing #punchcards #vietnam

Torsten Roeder @[email protected] · 2026-04-22 · 05:40 UTC

In der Hybrid-Vortragsreihe "Hack & Play", die heute um 16 Uhr startet, begrüßen wir als ersten Gast Moritz Feichtinger (@feichtimo), der über sein laufendes Forschungsprojekt "Computing the Social" (www.computingthesocial.net) zur Geschichte der datenbankgestützten Bevölkerungskontrolle im Vietnamkrieg referieren wird. Weitere Infos unter: https://hacknplay2026.rtrlb.de/ #vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

#vietnam #punchcards #retrocomputing #retrolab #hacknplay2026

Review Board @[email protected] · 2026-04-01 · 14:25 UTC

Somewhere, right now, a developer is sorting 400 COBOL cards off a computer room floor after a late night of keying. Nobody wants to look at it. Nobody cares.

But we do.

Announcing code review for Punch Cards, powered by Review Board.

https://reviewboard.org/punch-cards/

#mainframes #development #devtools #punchcards #legacy

Stefan Bohacek @[email protected] · 2026-03-05 · 14:29 UTC

"The idea of a computer library dates back to the first computers created by Charles Babbage.

An 1888 paper on his Analytical Engine suggested that computer operations could be punched on separate cards from numerical input. If these operation punch cards were saved for reuse then "by degrees the engine would have a library of its own.""

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_(computing)

#programming #development #PunchCards #history #ComputerHistory

#programming #development #punchcards #history #computerhistory

keen456 keen456 @[email protected] · 2025-11-16 · 13:11 UTC

Hey #digipres folks, over on the #ApplesauceFDC discord, someone's been working through how to archive punch cards (since they've got a large stack of them), and put together a documented #format for #punchcards: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVLn3A4--sm2MhtSWq-d9Ea3fR0AxsyR4utPk0F-GtI/edit?tab=t.0 ping RetroAnd on the Discord

#digipres #applesaucefdc #format #punchcards

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2025-10-03 · 14:32 UTC

🚀✨ A static web server in COBOL? Well, someone's finally solved the problem of "What do I do with all this leftover punch card stock?" 😂🔍 No worries, the '90s called, and they just want their irrelevant tech stack back! 📟💾
https://github.com/jmsdnns/webbol #staticwebserver #COBOL #punchcards #90sreboot #techhumor #retrotech #HackerNews #ngated

#staticwebserver #cobol #punchcards #90sreboot #techhumor #retrotech

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2025-02-26 · 06:19 UTC

Ah, the riveting saga of punch cards – because who doesn't want to dive into an archive of ancient data entry methods? 😂 If you're nostalgic for a time when computers had less memory than your microwave, this is the treasure trove for you! 🕰️ Just don't expect to do anything useful with it, like support JavaScript. 📜✨
https://punchcards.tristandavey.com/ #punchcards #nostalgia #dataentry #techhistory #vintagecomputing #HackerNews #ngated

#ngated #hackernews #vintagecomputing #techhistory #dataentry #nostalgia

N-gated Hacker News @[email protected] · 2025-02-26 · 06:19 UTC

Ah, the riveting saga of punch cards – because who doesn't want to dive into an archive of ancient data entry methods? 😂 If you're nostalgic for a time when computers had less memory than your microwave, this is the treasure trove for you! 🕰️ Just don't expect to do anything useful with it, like support JavaScript. 📜✨
https://punchcards.tristandavey.com/ #punchcards #nostalgia #dataentry #techhistory #vintagecomputing #HackerNews #ngated

#punchcards #nostalgia #dataentry #techhistory #vintagecomputing #hackernews

Stefan Bohacek @[email protected] · 2025-02-19 · 14:34 UTC

"In 1966 [...] five megabytes of data—a relatively small amount by today's standards—required an astounding 62,500 punched cards."

https://www.vintag.es/2025/02/5-megabytes-of-computer-data.html

#technology #history #TechHistory #VintageTech #RetroComputing #data #PunchCards

#retrocomputing #technology #history #techhistory #vintagetech #data

Common Sparrow @[email protected] · 2025-02-12 · 19:45 UTC

Today the Internet Archive gave us this utterly fascinating blog post about Punch Card Knitting, a system that uses punch cards to encode patterns into knitting machines.

"They’re an important piece of computing history—and crucially, one of the few that isn’t only history because a broad community of people, on- and off-line, are still sharing knowledge on how to hack, restore, and use them."

"All punch cards are fundamentally digital, even if we don’t generally think of “digital” as a property physical objects can have. It is only recently that our associations of computing with “the cloud” and other ephemeral metaphors have superseded the fundamentally physical processes that support computation. Working with knitting machine punch cards reminds me that the cloud is a metaphor, and lets me own and manipulate my code in a way I find both challenging and creatively liberating."

"The coolest thing about knitting punch cards is that they really are just sequences of “yes” and “no”—and that information is actionable in a wide variety of machines, all of which perform different functions based on that information."

Thanks, Internet Archive, for giving me a fascinating article that took me to a more refreshing place than worrying about politics.

https://blog.archive.org/2025/02/12/vanishing-culture-punch-card-knitting/

#Knitting #History #PunchCards

#knitting #history #punchcards

Miker @[email protected] · 2024-11-17 · 15:33 UTC

An Ontario Weaving Factory in 1869 (because we all need some steam powered computers in our lives...) #Computer #PunchCards #Technology #Steam #ontario 🗃️

#computer #punchcards #technology #steam #ontario

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2024-08-28 · 16:47 UTC

Great longform article from The Atlantic on the success and failures of #IBM, from #typewriters and #punchcards to letting #BillGates and #Microsoft keep #DOS, IBM in #WorldWarII, just a fun #tech #history

The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’
What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/ibm-greatest-capitalist-tom-watson/676147/

#ibm #typewriters #punchcards #billgates #microsoft #dos

Linux Professional Institute @LPI · 2024-08-02 · 15:45 UTC

From #punchcards to powerful #code in #opensource projects #PCRE and #Exim, Philip Hazel’s career is an exciting journey of #FOSS success and the evolution of #tech! 🐧

Dive into Hazel’s story on @LWN and consider carrying on the torch maintaining #PCRE2:

https://t.ly/RLY3Q

#LPI #LWN #techhistory #freesoftware #softwaredevelopment #github #perl #Linux #Unix #GPL #Apache #MariaDB

#punchcards #code #opensource #pcre #exim #foss

Linux Professional Institute @[email protected] · 2024-08-02 · 15:45 UTC

From #punchcards to powerful #code in #opensource projects #PCRE and #Exim, Philip Hazel’s career is an exciting journey of #FOSS success and the evolution of #tech! 🐧

Dive into Hazel’s story on @LWN and consider carrying on the torch maintaining #PCRE2:

https://t.ly/RLY3Q

#LPI #LWN #techhistory #freesoftware #softwaredevelopment #github #perl #Linux #Unix #GPL #Apache #MariaDB

#punchcards #code #opensource #pcre #exim #foss

Linux Professional Institute @[email protected] · 2024-08-02 · 15:45 UTC

From #punchcards to powerful #code in #opensource projects #PCRE and #Exim, Philip Hazel’s career is an exciting journey of #FOSS success and the evolution of #tech! 🐧

Dive into Hazel’s story on @LWN and consider carrying on the torch maintaining #PCRE2:

https://t.ly/RLY3Q

#LPI #LWN #techhistory #freesoftware #softwaredevelopment #github #perl #Linux #Unix #GPL #Apache #MariaDB

#punchcards #code #opensource #pcre #exim #foss

Linux Professional Institute @[email protected] · 2024-08-02 · 15:45 UTC

From #punchcards to powerful #code in #opensource projects #PCRE and #Exim, Philip Hazel’s career is an exciting journey of #FOSS success and the evolution of #tech! 🐧

Dive into Hazel’s story on @LWN and consider carrying on the torch maintaining #PCRE2:

https://t.ly/RLY3Q

#LPI #LWN #techhistory #freesoftware #softwaredevelopment #github #perl #Linux #Unix #GPL #Apache #MariaDB

#mariadb #apache #gpl #unix #linux #perl

Linux Professional Institute @[email protected] · 2024-08-02 · 15:45 UTC

From #punchcards to powerful #code in #opensource projects #PCRE and #Exim, Philip Hazel’s career is an exciting journey of #FOSS success and the evolution of #tech! 🐧

Dive into Hazel’s story on @LWN and consider carrying on the torch maintaining #PCRE2:

https://t.ly/RLY3Q

#LPI #LWN #techhistory #freesoftware #softwaredevelopment #github #perl #Linux #Unix #GPL #Apache #MariaDB

#punchcards #code #opensource #pcre #exim #foss