green card
[after the "IBM System/360 Reference Data" card] A summary of an assembly
language, even if the colour is not green. Less frequently used now because of
the decrease in the use of assembly language. "I'll go get my green card so I
can check the addressing mode for that instruction." Some green cards are
actually booklets.
The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was introduced,
and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a scene that took
place in a programmers' terminal room at Yorktown in 1978. A luser overheard one
of the programmers ask another "Do you have a green card?" The other grunted and
passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser turned a
delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
Green Book « Green Book CD-ROM « green bytes «
green card
» green lightning » green machine » green monitor
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