Standard business letter writing equipment is used in the preparation of punched paper
tapes for input into the WHIRLWIND I computer. The preparation of such a tape is the
essential step in introducing information into a binary computer. The presence or
absence of holes in each of the 6 significant positions across the tape provides
a unique binary indication of what typewriter character was struck. The computer
itself is then instructed to convert the arbitrarily coded binary combinations
read from the tape into the correct binary form of the numbers and instructions which
the tape was intended to introduce into the computer.



AN EXAMPLE OF A SHORT PROGRAM ACTUALLY TYPED FOR THE WHIRLWIND COMPUTER FOLLOWS


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TAPE NO. 2690 m1 VANDERBURGH
OCTAL
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40|	ca172	ts212	ca212	ad174	ts223	ts212	srr1	sp50
50|	su203	cp56	ca210	ts47	ca204	sp44	ca200	sp240
60|	ts200	sp42	su175	cp56	ca172	ts223	ts164	ca173
70|	sp260	ts165	ca0	ts166	ca177	ad202	cp75	ca164
100|	ad174	ts223	ts164	ca166	su170	ts166	su176	mr171
110|	ad165	ts165	srr1	su177	cp117	ca165	sp140	ca164
 .           .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .
 .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .
 .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .	   .
340|	ts224	si600	ca223	rc	ca224	sp153
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START AT l57
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