>> Didn't some systems reserve the last few columns on the
>> card for a sequence number so you could get the cards back
>> in order after they were "shuffled?"

> Yes, the first 72 columns were for the program code, the 
> last 8 were for the card sequence number.  But it was 
> optional, and a lot of people didn't bother with it.  
> Those who did, usually incremented the count by 10s so 
> you could add stuff inbetween existing cards without 
> needing to re-number (ie re-punch the whole deck!).

For several years in the mid-1980's, I did contract COBOL and
assembler (technically, HP's SPL3000) on an HP3000 minicomputer
running the MPE/3000 operating system.  HP3000 and MPE were
aimed at the IBM mid-range market (System/34 [ +/- 2 ]).

System did not have a card reader option.  Peripheral hardware
just was not supported on any HP3000 model or under MPE.  

Yet the COBOL compiler strictly used 80 column card images on
disk and _enforced_ the card column rules.  Any characters
punched in the last 8 positions were quietly ignored.

This was a real pain when you typed one or two characters too
many and your variable was truncated or required punctuation
was discarded.  The resulting error could take a while to find
since when you looked at the "card" in the editor, the characters
were obviously present.  The editor did not highlight columns.  A
case where the tool sets a trap for the unwary.  I "solved" this
problem by drawing a vertical line on the CRT screen at column 72.

<Rant On>
Why HP did this always alluded me.  If you dropped the disk
drive on the floor, the likelyhood that your "card deck" was
shuffled but still readable was pretty remote.  A reflection
of doing thing a certain way "because we've always done it
that way".
<Rant Off>

I was also working on DEC systems at this time.  Their COBOL
compiler was very programmer friendly in comparison (105 chars
per line, mostly free format, and no sequence number foolishness).
I still prefer their operating systems.  Galling that HP now owns
what is left of DEC. <sigh>

						Lee Jones

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