When the computer was invented, it didnt have a keyboard and display was extremely limited. For a computer, letters are just codes that the computer uses a basic database to convert.
The very first keyboards were not attached to the computers, but punched holes in paper cards which were later fed to the computer. A wire sensor was an open circuit where there was no hole, and a closed circuit where there was a hole, as the card passed through the computer's card reader. The keyboard driven keypunch machine actually predates the computer.
Demonstration of an advanced late-model keypunch machine:
The keypunch machine is a typewriter for punchcards, essentially.
Over time, there have been punchcards where the holes represented all different kinds of data, but the most common punchcards in the computer era
could represent letters, numbers, a little punctuation and a few mathematical symbols. They were used to write Fortran and Cobol programs and data
for those programs, among other things.
The symbol printed at the top of each column shows what the column encodes here.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.