Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!rutgers!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: cassette tapes
Message-ID: <16163@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 15 May 91 21:59:57 GMT
References: <6067@tellab5.tellabs.com> <9105141955.AA05330@mwunix.mitre.org>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 11

In article <9105141955.AA05330@mwunix.mitre.org> mcgurrin@MWUNIX.MITRE.ORG writes:
>Punch cards?  The epitomy of high tech.  Paper tape on tty mechanical
>readers is how I started programming.

Well, I was trying to resist chiming in, but...
Punched (Hollerith) cards offered advantages in sorting and pattern matching
that are hard to replicate using "today's technology".
Perforated paper tape had a long history of use in telecommunications;
it also played an essential role in the optical sensing method used by
British cryptanalysts to decipher German GeheimSchreiber messages.
"Use the right tool for the job."