This computer punch card brings back unpleasant memories of my first encounter with computing. As a freshman engineering student at the University of Washington, I had to take FORTRAN programming. Not only did I have trouble grasping FORTRAN, the process for creating and running programs was painful.

The steps were as follows:

1. Write program commands on a sheet of paper, one command per line.

2. Go to the Computing Center on campus.

3. Create a set of punched cards, one card for each command in the program (200 commands = 200 cards). This was done by operating a card puncher: a fancy typewriter-type device that typed the letters on the top row of the card and punched holes below each letter of the command. The holes were read by the computer and converted into actions.

4. Put a rubber band around the stack of cards and write your name on the stack.

5. Place the stack on a shelf for pick-up and execution by the computer operator. My stacks went in the "B" section.

6. Return a few hours later or the next day to see the printed result---which could be a successfully run program or a printout of errors due to typos or bad sequencing of the cards.

Sixteen years after that college horror, I routinely scavenged cards such as this from wheeled recycling bins at work in order to give the cards a second life as note pads for shopping lists, do lists, and the like.

The building that housed the computer center when I was a student (1965-6) was at the center of this Wikimapia aerial view. At least I think that's where it was.