Application of punched tape cards for information work

Abstract

Data processing systems relying on the application of punched card techniques have kept developing over the past few decades, and have reached a high technological level. They are operating is the economic field, particularly as regards processing numerical data in an excellent way. Machines constructed for well-defined functions are at the disposal of systems-designers to perform each separate processing operation. The collation and sorting of data are easy tasks. However, processing alpha-numeric data and sizeable texts of various length occurring in information work, are already requiring special considerations, moreover, the interpreters and other printers (tabulators) of punched card systems with their small set of symbols produce print-outs which can poorly (or not at all) he multiplied.

Punched tape techniques are comparatively younger, hat – being less complicated – punched tape machines, owing to their structure, do not make any distinction between purely numeric and alpha-numeric data. Operating with a large set of symbols, they can produce high-quality print-outs which can easily be multiplied. Punched tape is a more suitable medium to carry informations of varying number of symbols than punched cards. However, at the same time, punched tape systems do require special systems techniques and solutions to perform the sorting and collating operations.

The punched tape card combines the advantages of punched cards with those of punched tape. while the input of information or its print-out goes on much in the same way In the case of punched tape cards as in case of punched tapes, there is, to some extent, a possibility of manual or machine-assisted selecting and sorting data. Its application renders it possible to automata SDI systems, and may even be used in non-computerized systems.

The article describes an experiment with punched tape card systems conducted by the Hungarian Central Technical Library and Documentation Centre (OMKDK).