punchkort
Punchkort, or punch cards, are stiff sheets of paper in which data are encoded by punching holes in predefined positions. The pattern of holes represents information, and the card is read by mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic devices. They have been used for timekeeping, payroll, and data processing across a wide range of industries.
In workplaces, employees would insert their punchkort into a time clock. The punches recorded start and end
In computing, punched cards carried program instructions and data. Early computers used cards organized into 80-
Originating with Herman Hollerith for the 1890 U.S. Census, punched cards became a standard medium for data
With the advent of magnetic media and digital databases, punched cards largely disappeared from daily use by
Today, punchkort are primarily of historical interest, illustrating the evolution of automated data processing and early