Most of us have grown so blase about computer developments and capabilities - even some that are spectacular - that it is difficult to believe or imagine there was a time when we suffered the noisy, painstakingly slow, electromechanical devices that chomped away on punched cards. Nicholas Metropolis
"After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on punched cards. Source: Internet
As there were no users waiting at an interactive terminal, this was no problem: users handed in a deck of punched cards to an operator, and came back a few hours later for printed results. Source: Internet
By 1801 Joseph Marie Jacquard had developed machines to create paper tapes by tying punched cards in a sequence. Source: Internet
Card formats The Hollerith punched cards used for the US 1890 census were blank. citation Following that, cards commonly had printing such that the row and column position of a hole could be easily seen. Source: Internet
Design Two types of punched cards used to program the machine. Source: Internet