The IBM 550 numerical interpreter. was the first commercial machine made by IBM that read numerical data punched on cards and printed it across the top of each card. The 550 was introduced in 1930. Image File history File links IBM_logo. ... International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) (NYSE: IBM) (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
Information to be printed could be placed in any sequence via plug-board selections. The machine operated at the rate of 75 cards a minute. The feed hopper had a capacity of 800 cards, and the stacker had a capacity of 1,000 cards. Plugboard. ...
The IBM 550 was also a member of the IBM "Compatibles Systems". After the introduction of the IBM 360 mainframe in 1967, the IBM 550 was the next step in high speed mainframes coming out in the next few years.
The term "interpreter" often referred to a piece of unit record equipment that could read punched cards and print the characters in human-readable form along the top edge of the card.
The IBM550 Numeric Interpreter and IBM 557 Alphabetic Interpreter are typical examples from 1930 and 1954, respectively.
Threaded code, a compact form of code that depends on a simple interpreter.