Ada on punched cards?

Ada on punched cards?

[Stephen Leake]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever written an Ada program on
punched cards?

And if you have to ask "what's a punched card", you don't want to know
:). 

Punched cards disappeared from the machines I had access to before
1983, so I doubt it. But the topic came up recently, and I figured
that's a perfect question for this group!

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Paul A Storm]

Stephen Leake wrote:
> 
> Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever written an Ada program on
> punched cards?
> 
> And if you have to ask "what's a punched card", you don't want to know
> :).
> 
> Punched cards disappeared from the machines I had access to before
> 1983, so I doubt it. But the topic came up recently, and I figured
> that's a perfect question for this group!
> 
> --
> -- Stephe

"Through her persistent correspondence, she came to know and work with
Charles Babbage, inventor of the
"Analytical Engine." Babbage's machine was a precursor to the modern
computer. Author Teri Perl described how [Ada] Lovelace compared the
engine to the Jacquard loom, which also used punch cards: 

"As in modern punch cards, the patterns of holes correspond to
mathematical symbols. In Lady [Ada] Lovelace's words, 'We may say most
aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns  just as the
Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.'"

"Thus Ada Byron Lovelace joined metaphorically the symbols of both the
Industrial Age and the Information
Age: the loom, the target of the Luddites; and the computer, the target
of the Y2K bug. "
http://mbbnet.umn.edu/doric/girls.html

ADA, COUNTESS OF LOVELACE (1815-1852)

Eldest daughter of Lord Byron, known as the first computer programmer.
Her name, Ada, is today used in Military Computer language. She
developed a system of punch cards to solve mathematical equations using
the Jacquard card system (1801) of looms used to weave fabric patterns. 
http://www.wic.org/artwork/ada.htm

"Ada" invented computer punch cards.
;-)

Paul Storm
-- 
My perspicacity is only eclipsed by my pertinacity

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Wes Groleau]

> Punched cards disappeared from the machines I had access to before
> 1983, so I doubt it. But the topic came up recently, and I figured
> that's a perfect question for this group!

Where I worked in 1988-1994, we did have a punch card reader
in use.  But it was not used for Ada.  I did not use it, but
I _think_ it was not used for programming at all, but for
processing cards that had parts and supply data punched into them.

-- 
Wes Groleau
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wgroleau

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Randy Brukardt]

Stephen Leake wrote in message ...
>Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever written an Ada program on
>punched cards?
>
>And if you have to ask "what's a punched card", you don't want to know
>:).
>
>Punched cards disappeared from the machines I had access to before
>1983, so I doubt it. But the topic came up recently, and I figured
>that's a perfect question for this group!


The very first version of Janus/Ada was created as the homework for the
compiler construction course (CS 701) at the University of Wisconsin.
The host machine was a Univac 1100/80. While we did most of the work at
the recently installed terminals, we did do some things on punched
cards. (The machine "charged" for each run, and batch runs were
"cheaper", so we could stretch out our "funds" by using cards.) The
coding was in an extended Pascal (which we later machine-translated to
Ada). But of course the test programs were written in Ada, and we often
ran test batches on cards. So, I suppose the answer is yes, but there
never were any real programs on the cards. And in any case, there was an
early Ada compiler on cards...

        Randy Brukardt.

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Stephen Leake]

"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> writes:

> The very first version of Janus/Ada was created as the homework for the
> compiler construction course (CS 701) at the University of Wisconsin.
> The host machine was a Univac 1100/80. While we did most of the work at
> the recently installed terminals, we did do some things on punched
> cards. (The machine "charged" for each run, and batch runs were
> "cheaper", so we could stretch out our "funds" by using cards.) The
> coding was in an extended Pascal (which we later machine-translated to
> Ada). But of course the test programs were written in Ada, and we often
> ran test batches on cards. So, I suppose the answer is yes, but there
> never were any real programs on the cards. And in any case, there was an
> early Ada compiler on cards...

Cool. What year was this?

Maybe this could go in a "history of Ada" page at AdaIC?

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Randy Brukardt]

Stephen Leake wrote in message ...
>"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> writes:
>
>> The very first version of Janus/Ada was created as the homework for
the
>> compiler construction course (CS 701) at the University of Wisconsin.
>> The host machine was a Univac 1100/80. While we did most of the work
at
>> the recently installed terminals, we did do some things on punched
>> cards. (The machine "charged" for each run, and batch runs were
>> "cheaper", so we could stretch out our "funds" by using cards.) The
>> coding was in an extended Pascal (which we later machine-translated
to
>> Ada). But of course the test programs were written in Ada, and we
often
>> ran test batches on cards. So, I suppose the answer is yes, but there
>> never were any real programs on the cards. And in any case, there was
an
>> early Ada compiler on cards...
>
>Cool. What year was this?


Fall of 1980. The first commercial version of Janus/Ada shipped in
November 1981. In those days, all you had to do was to write something,
take out an advertisement in Byte or Dr. Dobbs, and cash the checks.
People were happy to find anything that worked that they could get their
hands on. Sort of like the Dot Com boom...(without the Venture
Capitalists and Wall Street).

>Maybe this could go in a "history of Ada" page at AdaIC?


Perhaps. I wonder if anyone is interested (and I doubt that discussing
things that happened 20+ years ago would help getting Ada used more...)

         Randy.

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[tmoran]

>things that happened 20+ years ago would help getting Ada used more...)
 But "Foundation sagas" help keep the faithful energized.

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[Stephen Leake]

"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> writes:

> >Maybe this could go in a "history of Ada" page at AdaIC?
> 
> 
> Perhaps. I wonder if anyone is interested 

Well, there are museums with old computer hardware; why not old
compilers :).

> (and I doubt that discussing things that happened 20+ years ago
> would help getting Ada used more...)

Good point. Let's keep it quiet.

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Ada on punched cards?

[George Lafortune]

In the early 90's, I actually wrote a punch card reader device driver that
was a combination
of Ada and assembly code.    It was fun interpreting status bits such as
"hopper stuck".

Stephen Leake wrote in message ...
>Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever written an Ada program on
>punched cards?
>
>And if you have to ask "what's a punched card", you don't want to know
>:).
>
>Punched cards disappeared from the machines I had access to before
>1983, so I doubt it. But the topic came up recently, and I figured
>that's a perfect question for this group!
>
>--
>-- Stephe