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Time Machine: Code Edition

Travel through 70 years of programming. See how we talked to machines before we could... talk to machines.

Timeline

1952

The Punch Card Era

Language

Assembly / Machine Code

Paradigm

Imperative

Storage

80-column punch cards

Programs were physical objects. Dropping your card deck meant hours of re-sorting. One typo = one ruined card.

💻 Code From This Era

assembly_/_machine_code_example

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HELLO-WORLD.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    DISPLAY "HELLO, WORLD".
    STOP RUN.

; PUNCH CARD LAYOUT:
; COL 1-6:  SEQUENCE NUMBER
; COL 7:    CONTINUATION
; COL 8-72: PROGRAM TEXT
; COL 73-80: IDENTIFICATION

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Fun Fact

A typical program might require thousands of cards. Some programmers marked the edge of their deck with a diagonal line to help re-sort if dropped.

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WIZ's Take

"Imagine if every typo meant physically destroying something. Actually, that might improve code quality."

Jump to Era

19520% through history2024

From punch cards to AI pair programming. 70 years of humans teaching machines to think.

Next milestone: machines teaching humans to think?