When I first got into the computer biz in 1983, punch cards were on the way out. In both my internship and my initial systems programmer job, we had card readers, and even some backup processes that made use of them, but nothing in production. But everyone else I knew had stories — recent stories — about their use.
And in that (relatively) short time, we’ve gone from punch cards to MP3 players which can store hours of music on a passingly small piece of hardware.
How do they compare?
Assuming a non-Hollerith encoding with eight bits per column, and [a 3-minute] MP3 file encoded at 128kbps CBR, there would be 36,864 cards in that deck, and the card reader would need a throughput of 205 cards per second. It might be wise to include an 8-column sequence number, however, so that a misordered deck can be repaired by a card sorter; with 72 data columns per card, the total is precisely 40,960 cards (40K cards), requiring a 228 card/second throughput. The 21 boxes of cards needed would be 5 feet 9 inches tall.
Amazing.
I still have a couple of boxes of punch cards in the basement. They make great notecards.
(via BoingBoing)