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16th century computer printouts — Parallax Forums

16th century computer printouts

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
edited 2011-11-14 09:28 in General Discussion
In a recent thread about people's favorite program editors, a few respondents mentioned punch cards. At least we've advanced somewhat since those bad old days. But I'm still stuck with ancient technology when it comes to getting a printout of my source code. Here's what I have to go through each and every time.

Start with some debugged code:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86739&d=1320958595

Import it to CorelDraw, convert the typeface to a nice woodblocky font, add a title header, then reverse everything:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86745&d=1320958602

Send the graphic to the laser cutter to engrave a printing plate from wood:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86744&d=1320958601

Trim the edges of the woodblock, and get it ready to ink:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86743&d=1320958599

Ink the plate:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86742&d=1320958598

Lay a blank sheet of paper on the plate, add some newspaper for padding, and use a rolling pin to press the ink into the paper:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86741&d=1320958597

Ahh! Finally a printout:

attachment.php?attachmentid=86740&d=1320958596

After the ink dries for a couple days, I can three-hole punch it and add it to my archival notebook. Yay!

But now I've gotta go clean up the mess I made. There must be a better way!

-Phil
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Comments

  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2011-11-10 13:06
    Incredible...

    Only you Phil... :) wow..

    OBC
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2011-11-10 13:07
    lol, I'd hate to have to carry around a deck of those...
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2011-11-10 13:11
    Too much time on your hands!

    Aren't you supposed be working on PropCam! :tongue:

    Jim
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-11-10 13:13
    Brilliant!!

    I have a monk in the attic who creates syntax illuminated manuscripts.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,261
    edited 2011-11-10 13:15
    Pure sweetness, PhiPi!

    I had to deal with punchcards way back in 1980 when I had my first FORTAN class in engineering. This is when you had to punch your cards at night, turn in your deck of cards during class, and wait a full day to get the printout on ye olde green & white IBM fanfold paper. That took a while to debug a program. Noobs weren't allowed to run their decks unsupervised. Someone managed to get the printer into a continuous "paper advance" loop that shot a parabolic arc of paper across the room that sent people ducking & covering while trying to find the off switch. A thousand sheets wasted in no time flat.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,261
    edited 2011-11-10 13:17
    mindrobots wrote: »
    I have a monk in the attic who creates syntax illuminated manuscripts.

    If you haven't read the sci-fi novel "A Canticle for Liebowitz", I highly recommend it. :)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-11-10 13:19
    .... There must be a better way!

    ...

    Yee must performe thy tasks under full moone and candel lyghte.
    (And add some Gregorian chants in the background while you're at it.)

    marty-feldman-300x225.jpg
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-11-10 13:28
    In the early 70s I used to enter my JCL and statistical data onto coding sheets that were transcribed onto punched cards for processing on the university CDC 6600 mainframe. I'd get the printout back the following day.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-11-10 15:26
    Phil, surely you won't stop there and rest on your laurels, gloating over your ancient woodcuts. How about something 6th century-ish... BC?

    hieroglyphics.jpg
  • lanternfishlanternfish Posts: 366
    edited 2011-11-10 15:33
    Awesome! Is this a CMYK printer?
  • vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
    edited 2011-11-10 15:36
    erco wrote: »
    If you haven't read the sci-fi novel "A Canticle for Liebowitz", I highly recommend it. :)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz

    I second that! Great book! I was actually just thinking about that story on my way home from work while driving on the interstate...

    "...and there was iron within the rocks for anyone willing to work hard to get it out..."

    or something like that... :)

    BTW very cool! You should put it on Hack-A-Day
  • Dr_AculaDr_Acula Posts: 5,484
    edited 2011-11-10 15:42
    I love the woodblock font!

    @mindrobotots
    I have a monk in the attic who creates syntax illuminated manuscripts.

    My monk appears to have had a breakdown - he has been transcribing the Bible and started shouting something about "There is an R. There is an R. It says 'celebrate'! "
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,261
    edited 2011-11-10 16:03
    And pleafe don't forget to apply the "f vs s" rule on your woodcut... life, liberty, and the purfuit of happinefs...

    For inftance:

    pft.start(9600)
    pft.str(string("Hello, world!"))

    http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/howto.html
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2011-11-10 16:05
    ElectricAye, I was going to make a crack about designing a programming language based on heiroglyphics but then I realized APL already existed.
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-11-10 16:41
    If you carry around a big shoebox for all your punch cards and submit to an IBM 360/50, a program run and program listing printout was always returned that afternoon. At the same time, one could access the TSO, a time sharing terminal for instant feedback.
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-11-10 16:45
    The techniques for reusable rubber type could save a few trees and you could print on rocks or fast growing "Bamboo paper" grown in the deep south.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-11-10 17:09
    @Dr_Acula Haha, yes, that's the Coptic R, it apparently didn't translate to Greek very well! It could have changed the world!!
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2011-11-10 19:21
    '
    I think if you get rid of the GOTO, It well work much faster......LOL!!!!
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,726
    edited 2011-11-10 19:38
    Yes, but can you do gold leaf, for gold standard objects?
  • John A. ZoidbergJohn A. Zoidberg Posts: 514
    edited 2011-11-10 19:38
    In a recent thread about people's favorite program editors, a few respondents mentioned punch cards. At least we've advanced somewhat since those bad old days. But I'm still stuck with ancient technology when it comes to getting a printout of my source code. Here's what I have to go through each and every time.

    After the ink dries for a couple days, I can three-hole punch it and add it to my archival notebook. Yay!

    But now I've gotta go clean up the mess I made. There must be a better way!

    -Phil

    I'm a fan of Baroque music, and that one is really cool!

    Put some Gothic fonts inside, and it looks even formal.

    Plus, that one is closely reminiscent to... Bach's printing of music. Probably he secretly had a computer brought from a person from the future. Maybe his storeroom weren't just lutes and coffee makers - he composes software to his students as well! :)
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-11-10 19:51
    Tubular wrote:
    Yes, but can you do gold leaf, for gold standard objects?

    LOL!!! Yes, actually, I'm working on a version of the autodoc program that creates plates just for impression of the gold leaf into selected parts of the sidebar illuminations. It outputs GLML (gold leaf markup language, ISO #MCDXLII).

    -Phil
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2011-11-10 21:27
    localroger wrote: »
    ElectricAye, I was going to make a crack about designing a programming language based on heiroglyphics but then I realized APL already existed.

    Ah, the good old days. Punched cards. Fortran, APL terminals, and the jokers who sent paper wasters if they new what terminal you were on.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-11-10 21:37
    erco wrote:
    And pleafe don't forget to apply the "f vs s" rule on your woodcut... life, liberty, and the purfuit of happinefs...
    "All your s's look like f's!"

    "It's in. It's very in!"

    "Well, ... if it's in..."

    Another Stan Freburg fan, I see. I guess that means every object has to have a ftart method.

    -Phil
  • AleAle Posts: 2,363
    edited 2011-11-11 02:16
    Phil, there was joke on one of the last Futurama episodes (All the president's heads) referring to the s's that look like f's...btw, it is Freberg ;-)
  • bsnutbsnut Posts: 521
    edited 2011-11-11 03:05
    Good job Phil. You can try this since you have the time on your hands. Do what you did with an offset printing plate, which you will need a negative and UV light to get the image on the plate.
  • TtailspinTtailspin Posts: 1,326
    edited 2011-11-11 07:17
    That looks really nice Phil, Maybe you could partner up with Mr.Gutenberg...



    -Tommy
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2011-11-11 08:01
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Brilliant!!

    I have a monk in the attic who creates syntax illuminated manuscripts.

    Be careful jumping to many centuries or you'll put the monk into shock. Give him one of these to bridge the temporal differential by 150 years.

    http://steampunkworkshop.com/telegraph.shtml
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2011-11-11 08:02
    Phil, that is really neat.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2011-11-12 12:21
    @Phil I think i've found a bug in your code.......No my mistake it's woodworm!
  • JLockeJLocke Posts: 354
    edited 2011-11-14 02:24
    I would've thought Phil would have a Linotype machine stuck away somewhere.
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