Computer Science - Computer Fundamentals - Discussion

It featured a new punched card format that was smaller and stored 96 characters. Instead of the rectangular punches in the classic IBM card, the new cards had tiny (1 mm), circular holes much like paper tape. Data was stored in six-bit binary-coded decimal code, with three rows of 32 characters each, or 8-bit EBCDIC, with the two extra holes located in the top rows. Cards had room for 128 printed characters in four rows of 32 characters each. IBM System/370s with a proper card reader could also process the new cards. The new cards were about 1/3 the size of the original 80 column cards but held 20% more text data (96 characters).