Curious about 5081 punch card

[hmbrew]

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot, but I really didn't know for sure where to put this.

A while back, I bought an old Heathkit radio direction finder at a garage sale. (MR-21A for the curious)

The manual had a "bookmark" in it. It's a 5081 punch card.

Anyway, I can't find any sites that discuss decoding these things, and I'm really curious about it. Does anyone know what this thing says? (Or how to decode it?)

This is my first time attaching an image, so here goes...

 

[Chuck(G)]

The card says:

bb9bb3bbbbbbbb.42775bbbbbb-.20100bbbbbb-.09049

where "b" is a blank space. Looks like a data card of some sort. Most likely to a FORTRAN program

This could be read or written by FORMAT(2I3,3F14.5)

 

[hmbrew]

Thanks!

Let me figure out how you decoded that...

It looks like column 14 indicates a period. That comes from the blank punch at the top with the 3 and the 8?
The "-" is indicated by the lower blank punch near the top?
Next is another period. (blank,3,8 )
The next one seems to be a typo. It is a 3, not a 2.
Then there are more blanks, periods and dashes, followed by additional numbers.

So, what other special characters can be represented on these things? What other character codes are there, in case I want to decode another?

 

[Chuck(G)]

My eyes aren't what they used to be, so sorry for the typo. Top blank row is usually known as "12" and the second blank is usually known as "11". So, the period would be read as "12-3-8".

Here are some code tables; there are many more

Fortunately, I didn't have to decide between BCD and EBCDIC, as the characters on the card are the same in both character sets. Note that EBCDIC is essentially a punched-card code, regardless of how it's used today.

 

[hmbrew]

Wow, I never expected to understand how the old punch cards worked. That's cool.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Chuck(G)]

One aspect of using punched cards was that your typing had to be darned near perfect. If you goofed while punching, there was no "backspace" key. You ejected the card from the punch station and started all over again.

 

[dave_m]

This could be read or written by FORMAT(2I3,3F14.5)

Chuck,
OK, I found my college FORTRAN book to check you out (printed 1964). I don't know why I bother, you are never wrong. But I did find this amusing statement:

"The computer is inflexible and dogmatic on its insistence of perfect punctuation in the statements that are presented to it for its interpretation. You, the programmer, must become adjusted to this rather hard fact of life."

Oh, have we ever become a slave to syntax.
-Dave

 

[Chuck(G)]

Chuck,
OK, I found my college FORTRAN book to check you out (printed 1964). I don't know why I bother, you are never wrong. But I did find this amusing statement:

That wouldn't be the McCracken book published by Wiley, would it? I remember that one well.

 

[dave_m]

Chuck,
No, it is "Numerical Methods using FORTRAN" by L. Dale Harris. I think it was offered by the Math Department.
-Dave

 

[Chuck(G)]

Ah, so not a "general introduction to FORTRAN", but more of a "how to Runge your Kutta" book. Don't know it.

 

[dave_m]

but more of a "how to Runge your Kutta" book. Don't know it.

Yes, that's the stuff. A good subtitle would have been "How to learn to love the DO Loop"