On 2020-01-01 09:57 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
I always wondered why the tapes were doing that. Seeking? Reading and writing on the same region?
Mystery solved, thanks.:-D
In actual use, you'd see them tend to move incrementally through the tape, with an occasional rewind. However, back in the '50s, when tape first appeared, computers had very little memory and often no disks. So, sorting would be done on the tapes (merge sort), but even then, they didn't behave the way the did in the movies. Also, many people couldn't tell the difference between a tape drive and the actual computer. ;-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merge_sort Prior to tapes, sorting was usually done on punch cards. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org