Yesterday I went to Leeds University to meet some friends I used to work with. There was a Christmas tree in the School of Computing which I much admired, decorated with computing paraphernalia. The yellow streamers are paper tape and the pink bows are made from (un)punched cards. There are floppy disks and a few CDs (nice and shiny) hanging from the branches and keyboards strewn around the base.
When I first got worked in computing, paper tape was on its way out and punched cards were the main input medium, although I don't recall ever using pink ones. Someone must have kept a secret stash of them for the past 30 years or so. I am very envious. After they became obsolete, I acquired a box of unused cards. They are excellent for shopping lists, but we used them all a long time ago. And now floppy disks are obsolete, too - and not much use for anything except hanging on a Christmas tree.
It's a splendid display.
No comments:
Post a Comment