Limitations
The three biggest problems with paper tape were:
- Reliability. It was common practice to follow each mechanical copying of a tape with a manual hole by hole comparison.
- Rewinding the tape was difficult and prone to problems. Great care was needed to avoid tearing the tape. Some systems used fanfold paper tape rather than rolled paper tape. In these systems, no rewinding was necessary nor were any fancy supply reel, takeup reel, or tension arm mechanisms required; the tape merely fed from the supply tank through the reader to the takeup tank, refolding itself back into exactly the same form as when it was fed into the reader.
- Low information density. Datasets much larger than a few dozen kilobytes are impractical to handle in paper tape format.
Read more about this topic: Punched Tape
Famous quotes containing the word limitations:
“The limitations of pleasure cannot be overcome by more pleasure.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“To note an artist’s limitations is but to define his talent. A reporter can write equally well about everything that is presented to his view, but a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“That all may be so, but when I begin to exercise that power I am not conscious of the power, but only of the limitations imposed on me.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)