On 2015-Dec-12, at 4:15 PM, Eric Christopherson wrote: > On Sat, Dec 12, 2015, Robert Rissell wrote: >> 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. > [snip] >> 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. > > So you could have the same batch job compile AND run the program? That > kind of surprises me. Must have saved a lot of time that way.
I entered university on the tail end of the batch era, and for student coursework that was the way it worked: job control cards, source, data. Compile, list, execute, program-output all in one submission. (This was under MTS, which despite being a timesharing system (Michigan Terminal System), still had support for batch.) The good thing about batch is there was always the incentive to get your entire program right the first time.
