Display-less computing was Re: TOP POSTING

[Brent Hilpert]

On 2015-Dec-12, at 4:15 PM, Eric Christopherson wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 12, 2015, Robert Rissell wrote:
>> The batch job consisted of a Batch Number for accounting, the keyword-coded
>> header card(s) to tell the computer what to do with the following cards
>> such as Compile, Link, Execute then Output for a Fortran source.
> [snip]
>> Following the source you would find the cards
>> listing the input for the program, such as a list of accounts and amounts
>> to be added
>> together or sorted.
> 
> So you could have the same batch job compile AND run the program? That
> kind of surprises me. Must have saved a lot of time that way.

I entered university on the tail end of the batch era, and for student coursework that was the way it worked: job control cards, source, data.
Compile, list, execute, program-output all in one submission.

(This was under MTS, which despite being a timesharing system (Michigan Terminal System), still had support for batch.)

The good thing about batch is there was always the incentive to get your entire program right the first time.