Card image is an archaic term for a character string, usually 80 characters in length, that was, or could be, contained on a single punched card. IBM cards were 80 characters in length, UNIVAC cards were 90 characters. A punched card typically held multiple data fields, some numeric, some alphabetic. Many data formats, such as the FITS image file format, still use card images as basic building blocks -- even though punched cards are now mostly obsolete.
Famous quotes containing the words card and/or image:
“What is the disease which manifests itself in an inability to leave a party—any party at all—until it is all over and the lights are being put out?... I suppose that part of this mania for staying is due to a fear that, if I go, something good will happen and I’ll miss it. Somebody might do card tricks, or shoot somebody else.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)