Tale of a 40-something a few years from now

[Technomage]

ROFLMAO.
I'm laughing because its already true!

Technomage

On Sunday 10 February 2002 22:14, you wrote:
> "Hey, Grampa, tell us the story about 80 column punch cards, and why
> a good rubber band was your best friend.  You mean you couldn't just
> talk to the computer?"
>
> "Well, Sonny, columns 1-5 were for your numeric labels.  A 'C' in
> column 6 meant it was a continuation from the previous line, and your
> code went in columns 7-72.  Columns 73-80 were your card sequence
> number and it was optional.  Nobody liked to put numbers there because
> if we moved a block of code, we would have to resequence the cards.
> Screw that - just make sure you had a good rubber band, and another
> one as a backup in case the first one broke.  Gives you a whole new
> meaning of data backup, huh."
>
> "Grampa, what was the deal with column 1 on the printer?"
>
> "Oh, yeah.  Put a 1 in column 1 and the printer won't advance.  Print
> about 10 lines with this:
> 1====================================================
> and all of the print wheels on the line printer would line up and the
> strikers would synchronize and go WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP and shake the whole
> computer center.  Heh, heh, heh.  The computer operators would jump
> out of their skin - they definitely knew when I ran a job."
>
> "Grampa, what's a line printer?"
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