A Journey Through Historical Footprints: Reflection on the Echoes of Time

The University’s Limited Computing Facilities

By 1978, the University of Colombo owned only an IBM 029 card punch machine—no computing facilities of its own. However, we were granted access to the Census and Statistics Department’s IBM System/360 Model 25 mainframe computer. This machine's card reader processed our decks for compiling and running programs, all free of charge. It was a generous and invaluable resource.

Challenges of the Punch Card Era

This era had its peculiarities—and pitfalls. We stored our completed card decks in personal boxes, carefully filed away. But woe to anyone who dropped their deck on the way to the card reader! I vividly recall an incident when Dr. Kevin Seneviratne, my supervisor and close friend, had the misfortune of spilling a deck, which required painstaking reorganisation.

Large programs, with decks spanning hundreds of cards, could be especially daunting. Debugging required replacing erroneous cards, resubmitting the deck to the Census Department for compilation, and waiting for the next printed error report—a time-consuming cycle. Despite these hurdles, I managed to obtain my computer-generated survey results just one week before my thesis submission deadline.

Sample Punched Card

Legacy and Reflection

The punch card era marked the beginning of my humble journey in programming and data processing. Today, these artefacts—IBM 029 card punch machines and punch cards—are proudly displayed at the "Computer History Museum" of the University of Colombo School of Computing. Demonstration videos, like the ones linked below, preserve the legacy of these machines:

Below is a demonstration of how the IBM 029 Card Punch Machine works.

1964 IBM 029 Keypunch Card Punching Demonstration (youtube.com)

This journey reflects the evolution of computing and how far technology has come since the late 1970s—a testament to ingenuity, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of progress.