Punched card input/output

A computer punched card reader or just computer card reader is a computer input device used to read computer programs in either source or executable form and data from punched cards. A computer card punch is a computer output device that punches holes in cards. Sometimes computer punch card readers were combined with computer card punches and, later, other devices to form multifunction machines. Many early computers, such as the ENIAC, and the IBM NORC, provided for punched card input/output. Card readers and punches, either connected to computers or in off-line card to/from magnetic tape configurations, were ubiquitous through the mid-1970s. Punched cards had been in use since the 1890s; their technology was mature and reliable. Card readers and punches developed for punched card machines were readily adaptable for computer use. Businesses were familiar with storing data on punched cards and keypunch machines were widely employed. Punched cards were a better fit than other 1950s technologies, such as magnetic tape, for some computer applications because individual cards could easily be updated without having to access a computer. Also file drawers of punched cards served as a low-density offline storage medium for data. The standard measure of speed is cards per minute, abbreviated CPM: The number of cards which can be read or punched in one minute. Card reader models vary from 150 to around 2,000 CPM. At 1200 CPM, i.e. 20 cards per second, this translates to 1,600 characters per second (CPS), assuming all 80 columns of each card encode information. Early computer card readers were base on electromechanical unit record equipment and used mechanical brushes that make an electrical contact for a hole, and no contact if no punch. Later readers used photoelectric sensors to detect the presence or absence of a hole. Timing within each read cycle relates the resulting signals to the corresponding position on the card. Early readers read cards in parallel, row by row, following unit record practice (hence the orientation of the rectangular holes).