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> Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 14:35:50 +0200 (METDST) > Reply-to: "W. J. Metzger" <[log in to unmask]> > On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, robin wrote: > > > > Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 10:01:16 +0200 > > > From: Jörg Stiller <[log in to unmask]> > > > > > Isn't it obvious that > > > > > > (1) ** was selected in early Fortran because the character set > > > of the early input devices was constrained. > > > > No, it was because printing devices were constrained. > > Being tabulating machines, they were restricted to the digits, > > alphabetic characters, and a few special characters such as . , / * > > or % ( ) and the like. > > Input was punch cards, and any code could be punched. > > Well, you could punch anything you wanted to, but that does not mean it > would be recognized, nor that it was a standard character on the 026 key > punch. We know that. I gave a list of such characters. The important device was the device that was used for printing the source -- namely a card tabulator or printer. That device defined what characters could be usefully used, and the ^ was not one of them. > I just checked an old IBM 1401 computer manual containing a table > of Card code - BCD (internal) representation. There is no ^ in the table. > (Nor do I remember its being on the 026 key punch. Nor, for that matter, on > the later 029 EBCDIC key punch.) That's right. It definitely wasn't on either punch. The ^ is not in the EBCDIC alphabet. > When FORTRAN was first invented, I think there was only one input device > that mattered, the 026 key punch. The 026 was not an input device. It was a key punch for punching 80-column cards. The device that mattered was the printing device for listing the source and for printing the output. Most U.S. installations would have had an IBM tabulator or printer, which had the characters of the Fortran charcter set. > Apart from the console, what else was > there for an IBM machine? A tabulator or printer. > Cheers, Wes > > Dr. W. J. Metzger Experimental High Energy Physics Group %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%