Zazhopnik & Techguy
Zazhopnik Zazhopnik
Techguy Techguy
Techguy Techguy
Remember the Altair 8800, the little blue box that launched the home computer revolution? I was just dusting off an old kit and it reminded me how those punch cards were basically the first interface people had to write code, and it still feels like a puzzle to me.
Zazhopnik Zazhopnik
Punch cards were the original CLI—every line a manual typing job, columns counted like a spreadsheet, and the machine would either spit out garbage or keep you guessing. It was a puzzle, not because it was hard, but because it forced you to confront the mess of raw code. Altair was the first home computer, but the punch card era reminds us that the best interfaces are the ones that hide the mess, not expose it.