What Tom Thackrey says is literally true, but perhaps also a little misleading. It was possible to enter lower-case characters, using as he says an overpunch; but it was not possible to interpret such overpunched cards, and this was important in the early days of OS/360 when source programs existed chiefly as decks of cards.
Or again, it was certainly possible to change trains to print mixed-case output, but that output was significantly slower, and if you wanted it it was usually produced for you only at intervals during the day. Turnaround for it was much longer than it was for upper-case-only printed output. In practical terms mixed-case source programs were not really feasible in most OS/360 shops in the late 60's and in the 70's. Thereafter, of course, things changed; and it is more than a little unfortunate that upper-case-only source programs are still in wide use. The only rationale for them today is the old saw that 'old habits die hard'. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
