[Info-vax] Removing the leading $ from commands in a new DCL language

[seasoned_geek]

On Monday, May 4, 2015 at 7:59:11 AM UTC-5, Bob Koehler wrote:
> In article <mi3rvr$pqq$1 at speranza.aioe.org>, glen herrmannsfeldt <gah at ugcs.caltech.edu> writes:
> > 
> > The IBM 704, where Fortran originated, read a card row into two 36
> > bit words. Columns 73-80 were ignored.  That led to Fortran 
> > ignoring 73-80, and it propagated from there.
> 
>    You cannot store 72 characters in 2 36 bit words.

True, that smelled funky but I didn't care to dig. Since allergies are killing me I dug today rather that hose something up I need.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/704.html

The 704's 6-bit BCD character set and 36-bit word account for FORTRAN's 6-character limit on identifiers. 


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming_in_the_punched_card_era

 An IBM 519 might be provided to reproduce program decks for backup or to punch sequential numbers in columns 73-80. 


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Many early programming languages, including Fortran, Cobol and the various IBM assembler languages, used only the first 72 columns of a card -- a tradition that traces back to the IBM 711 card reader used on the IBM 704/709/7090/7094 series (especially the IBM 704, the first mass-produced computer with floating point arithmetic hardware), which could only read 72 of the 80 columns in one pass. Columns 73-80 were ignored by the compilers and could be used for identification or a sequence number so that if the card deck was dropped it could be restored to its proper order using a card sorter. (An alternative, imperfect but commonly employed technique to maintain proper card order was to draw one or more diagonal stripes across the top edge of all the cards in a deck.)

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I had always thought those columns were left for sorting purposes.