[GreenKeys] M33 "O" (oh) vs "0" (zero)

[dmm at lemur.com]

Jim Haynes wrote:
>I seem to recall that in the distant past the IBMers used a slashed
>oh and unslashed zero in writing keypunching sheets.

This is correct.  Here is an example coding sheet:

http://www.lemur.com/temp/autochart.jpg

(This appeared in the IBM publication "Data Processing Techniques:
Documentation," Form C20-8152 (undated, but early 1960s).
This publication introduced the IBM Flowcharting Template X20-8020
(nostalgic for me as I grew up playing with extra ones brought home
by my dad) and the IBM 7070/7074 Autochart program.)

Note the "NO" vs "YES" in this coding chart.  However, note also
that the printed output of this program (not shown) used 
non-slashed-letter-O characters.

Here's a brief extract from a third-party book of the same era,
James A. Saxon and William S. Plette's _Programming the IBM 1401_.
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1962).

http://www.lemur.com/temp/saxon-plette-169.jpg

I'm sure someone else could trace this usage before the 1960s.

I *think* that the keypunches themselves generally did not use this
slash.  If, for example, you look closely at the photographs
of Model 26 and 29 keypunche keyboards at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keypunch
(click through on the thumbnail, and then click again to enlarge, and
then possible click again really to enlarge) they all have non-slashed
letter-O characters - after all, you knew where it was on QWERTYUIOP.

This makes Chris Elmquist's Model 33 particularly interesting.

... and (sigh), there is no end to detail once you start looking
at something closely.  Here are two pages from
_Flow-Matic Programming for the UNIVAC I and II Data Automation Systems_.
Rev. 1.  (Remington Rand Univac Division of Sperry Rand Corp., 1958, 1959):

http://www.lemur.com/temp/flowmatic-087.jpg
http://www.lemur.com/temp/flowmatic-094.jpg

As you can see, they too chose to make the letter-O the distinguished
variant - in their case by underscoring it.

Regards,
David M.
===
Dr. David M. MacMillan * dmm at lemur.com * www.lemur.com & www.CircuitousRoot.com

   First do no harm. (Primum non nocere.)
       - possibly Galen; see also Hippocrates (Epidemics, Bk. I, Sect. XI.)
   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold