Punch card

The punch card (or "Hollerith" card) is a recording medium for holding information for use by automated data processing machines. Made of stiff cardboard, the punch card represents information by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions on the card. In the first generation of computing, from the 1920s into the 1950s, punch cards were the primary medium for data storage and processing. Eventually the punch card would be phased out and replaced with huge floppys for media storage, for loading data, in the late 1970's, early 1980's.

Obsolescence

Punched-card systems fell out of favor in the mid to late 1970s, as disk storage became cost effective, and affordable interactive terminals meant that users could edit their work with the computer directly rather than requiring the intermediate step of the punched cards.

Related Topics:
Disk - Interactive terminals

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, their influence lives on through many standard conventions and file formats. The terminals that replaced the punched cards displayed 80 columns of text, for compatibility with existing software. Many programs still operate on the convention of 80 text columns, although strict adherence to that is fading as newer systems employ graphical user interfaces with variable-width type fonts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~