paper tape

paper tape

(1) A slow, low-capacity, sequential storage medium used on earlier computing and communications devices. Paper tape holds data as patterns of punched holes.

(2) A paper roll printed by a calculator or cash register.

Paper Tape

Paper tape was widely used in the early years of computing as a storage medium. Its capacity of only a handful of characters per inch seems pitiful by today's storage standards.

Paper Tape on a Flexowriter

In the 1950s, this typewriter-like device was used to punch data into tape for the Whirlwind and SAGE computers (see Whirlwind and SAGE). For validation, another operator might type the data all over again having the machine compare a second set of keystrokes with the already-punched tape. (Image courtesy of The MITRE Corporation Archives.)

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paper tape [′pā·pər ′tāp]

(computer science)

A paper ribbon in which data may be represented by means of partially or completely punched holes.

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(hardware, history)

paper tape - Punched paper tape. An early input/output and storage medium borrowed from telegraph and teletype systems. Data entered at the keyboard of the teletype could be directed to a perforator or punch which punched a pattern of holes across the width of a paper tape to represent the characters typed. The paper tape could be read by a tape reader feeding the computer. Computer output could be similarly punched onto tape and printed off-line. As well as storage of the program and data, use of paper tape enabled batch processing. The first units had five data hole positions plus a sprocket hole (for the driving wheel) across the width of the tape. These used commercial telegraph code (ITA2 also known as Murray), Baudot code, or proprietary codes such as Elliott which were more programmer-friendly. Later systems had eight data holes and used ASCII coding.