IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter??

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Mon Mar 29 23:07:46 1999

> Does anyone know what the function of an IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter
> is/was?
>
> Looks like a punch card sorter of some sort.

If it's what I think it is, it simply prints a line of text on the card,
above the holes. That's "interpreting" the punches to produce human-
readable text.

what makes you think it looks like a sorter? If it has two output bins and
one input bin, it may simply reject bad cards. If it has more output bins
then it probably does something I don't know about. (You can tell if it
really is a sorter because they have about 11 bins -- one for each digit
plus one for rejects. Sorters are unmistakable.)

-- Derek
Received on Mon Mar 29 1999 - 23:07:46 BST