In a recent note, Kirk Talman said: > Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 16:29:20 -0500 > > Unless there were two of them, the 407 was a tabulating machine in the > I know, but it could also be cabled to a 70* computer and used as a printer and card reader, in which case it could read only 72 columns of each card. This contributed to the convention of using eight columns for sequence numbers.
In contrast, the PDP-6 stored five characters per word, which gave rise to a convention of five-character sequence numbers. > 1950's. Sounded like a washing machine in distress when operating > properly. > That's the 150 LPM model. University of Colorado had one in the middle 1950's, but it was the 100 LPM model that sounded like a waltzing washing machine: print, print, ..., print, print, ..., print, print, ..., > > IBM's lexical conventions, traceable to the limitations of the > > 029 keypunch and 407 card reader (I know, but..) are unduly > > burdensome. They deter beginners starting on the mainframe > > career track. No professor, having a limited number of -- gil -- StorageTek INFORMATION made POWERFUL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
