Punched tape display at CWI

In 2023, we had a collection of punched tape on display at CWI. Punched tape was used for early computers, among others by the famous Edsger Dijkstra. It was temporarily replacing the ENIGMA machine, which was on loan at the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek from early 2023 to January 2024.

On display at CWI was a small collection of punched tape, a form of data and software storage of early computers, consisting of long strips of perforated paper. This developed from punched cards, differing in that the tape is continuous. Punched tape was used throughout the 19th and for much of the 20th centuries for programmable looms, teleprinter communication and for input to computers of the 1950s and 1960s. During the Second World War, high-speed punched tape systems were used in code breaking systems.

The punched tape on display comes from the archives of the Mathematical Centre (MC), the current Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). It contains, among others, ALGOL 60 by the later Turing Award winner Edsger Dijkstra (MC/CWI) and ZEBRA Simple Code by Lambert Meertens (MC/CWI).

In 2023 and early 2024, the ENIGMA machine could be seen at the Freedom Museum (Vrijheidsmuseum) in Groesbeek.

Poster Exhibition Double Agent Freedom Museum Groesbeek
Poster of the 2023 exhibition with CWI's ENIGMA machine at the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek.