Hacker News

Favorites Setup
Comment by curiousObject | original | How did Woz write the Apple 1 BASIC before building the computer?
[−]curiousObject · 2026-11-15 Sun 13:08 UTC · link
Did the cards not have some sort of index system so they could be automatically sorted back into the correct order? Holes on the edge maybe?
[−]KineticLensman · 2026-11-15 Sun 14:35 UTC · link
Another useful technique was to draw a line diagonally across the top of the deck with a marker pen or similar. Helped a bit as a first pass for any post-drop sorting
[−]ok123456 · 2026-11-15 Sun 18:31 UTC · link
Yes, it was common to have cards numbered beyond columns 66/72 or whatever the fixed line length for the language was. You would put them in a sorter.