Card Formats
The early applications of punched cards all used specifically designed card layouts. It wasn't until around 1928 that punched cards and machines were made "general purpose". The rectangular, round, or oval bits of paper punched out are called chad (recently, chads) or chips (in IBM usage). Multi-character data, such as words or large numbers, were stored in adjacent card columns known as fields. A group of cards is called a deck. One upper corner of each card was usually cut so that cards not oriented correctly, or cards with different corner cuts, could be easily identified. Cards commonly had printing such that the row and column position of a hole could be identified. For some applications printing might have included fields, named and marked by vertical lines, logos, and more.
Read more about this topic: Punched Card
Famous quotes containing the word card:
“In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)