Punch cardSource: Wikipedia

Dateline: 1975 – Virginia Tech computer lab.

A stack of punched cards 9 inches high or higher is in my hand, each with one statement of code. After waiting in line at midnight, I insert them into the feeder for the giant computer.

Within a few minutes the printer sends out pages and pages and pages of repeated text —- error — error — error .

It would not even read my name.

Somewhere, along the line, early on, I had made a syntax mistake or some other kind of error.

The computer was unforgiving … and even into the days of DOS and, to some extent, even today, requiring precise language

Thank goodness Google often knows what I mean these days … but intuition has its downside too.

Truth and precision seem to matter in the mathematical realm.

It sure makes me appreciate grace.

Nevertheless, it is still true that …

" You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently."  -Psalm 119:4  (ESV)

In case you want to know more about the age of punch cards:

 

 

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