Hi,

On Fri, 20 Jul 2001, Paul Karagianis wrote:

> On 20 Jul 2001, at 11:53, Fergal Suipeil wrote:
>
> >It's a form of weak proprietary encryption called EBCDIC.
>
> My memory of it is that it was a numeric reflection of a
> storage medium based on cutting little rectangles in roughly
> 3"x7" pieces of cardboard, and sorta made sense in that context.
> My High School (FAAHS am Main) had access to a corporate computer
> (initially with 8K, replaced by a 32K monster), but not the
> room with the corporate keypunch, so I've had the thrill of fixing
> bugs in a Fortran deck by cutting little triangles in replacement
> blank cards with an Exacto knife.

Ah yes, the cheapest form of data storage. All the data is stored in
the holes, which cost nothing. The card was only there to keep the
holes in the correct positions relative to each other.
                                                         Fergal.

--
Fergal Suipeil,
Systems Programmer,
Computing Services,
University College Dublin,
Ireland.