Re: ALTER, ASSIGN and labels-as-values (was: Unicode in strings)

John Savard <quadibloc@servername.invalid> schrieb:

On Wed, 29 May 2024 04:53:26 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>

This is why the source code didn’t go beyond column 72: so that the last 8
columns could be used for a sequence number.

>
The cards were 80 columns wide because this improved on the old 45
column cards, allowing more information to be  stored per card when
used with tab equipment.
>
Then the IBM 704 computer came along, which had a 36 bit word length.
>
IBM, in its infinite wisdom, decided that computer users, unlike tab
equipment users, could get by without being able to use the whole
card. So they made their card reader read the card by rows, with the
holes in the first 36 columns going in one word, and the holes in the
next 36 columns going in the next word.

Not quite: The card was read by rows using the accumulator and
the MQ register, each of which had 36 "normal" registers, for a
total of 72 bits.  So, there was a valid technical reason for that
choice.