On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 07:07:15 GMT, "Bryan"
wrote:

I forgot all about dot matrix printers. I realized the other day that my
kids have no idea about the punch cards!

Punched cards were hi tech. I started on punched paper tape with no
real editing capability. We had this huge clunky machine called a
Burroughs Flexowriter with a keyboard which punched the tape. The
computer was a Control Data 160A, as big as a desk, 4K of memory and
it cost about $80K circa 1967. To compile and run a Fortran program
it was first necessary to read the tape with the boot loader, then the
tape with the Fortran compiler, followed by the source code tape
(twice), and finally it would spit out a new tape with the object code
on it. At that point you were ready to re-boot and test your program.