Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The IBM 1620 Data Processing System was a popular early computer
for small businesses, academic research, and engineering applications.
(Courtesy of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, photo-
graph by Z. Stachniak.)
in a mechanically punched hole in a specific place on a card.
Different patterns of holes on each card represented different
pieces of data or sections of the program. Therefore the order
of cards in the resulting deck was as important as the informa-
tion punched into them. Finally, the deck of cards was fed to the
computer for execution. When there were multiple users wait-
ing for access to the computer, their jobs, already residing on
punch cards, would not be executed on a first-come-first-served
basis, but batched together by an operator. Only when there
were enough jobs in a batch were they submitted for processing.
If a submitted program contained errors, the owner was in-
formed about them only after the batch containing the erro-
neous program had been processed. To correct the errors, the
owner had to punch a new deck of cards and, again, hand it
over to an operator to be batched with scores of other jobs. The
 
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search