Mike, One of the key manners of getting information processed was batch jobs run by the computer staff. You never see the computer at all.
Individual programs (usually one at a time - using the whole machine for one program) were loaded, pointed at input files, run and then unloaded with the output file or a printout as the end result. Some of the batch jobs did such tasks as: Sorting the input file Adding account information to a ledger in a bank Calculating what is going to happen in a simulated physics problem Calculating trajectories of artillery shells Calculating Averages, Means and Standard Deviations of Statistical data Generating form letters based on an input list of names and addresses and printing them out etc. The batch job consisted of a Batch Number for accounting, the keyword-coded header card(s) to tell the computer what to do with the following cards such as Compile, Link, Execute then Output for a Fortran source. Any options are read in from the input file or set in the source file. This was often done by preparing stacks of cards with the input or control options and putting them in with the source deck. Then there was a card indicating the end of the source file. Following the source you would find the cards listing the input for the program, such as a list of accounts and amounts to be added together or sorted. Last you would find a specially punched control card to indicate the end of the batch job card deck. The total amount of CPU time taken to accomplish the batch job would be tracked and printed out for accounting at a rate per CPU second. This rate could vary based on priority or time of day. So it was in your best interest to write efficient programs. Your source and input deck was returned to you in a cardboard tray together with any resultant punched cards, paper tape or printouts (usually on fan-fold paper). If there was an error during the run, any error messages are returned to you for resolution. Error messages were usually in English, but your output could just be a stream of numbers, letters or sometimes a printed out graph or picture, line by line. What the computer did as a job was hopefully something that was not easier done by hand. Robyn
