Green card (IBM/360)

Green card was the abbreviated name given to the IBM/360 Reference data card that served as the shorthand "bible" for programmers during the late 1960s and 1970s. It rapidly became an icon of the 360 era of programming and was later replaced by the "yellow card". The same concept was also later used for an "orange card" for CICS application programming - that showed some internal CICS data structures and their relationships.

Card contents

The reference card contained details of all assembler instructions and other 360 "essential facts" condensed to a very convenient fold-up, pocket sized format:-

• IBM/360 instructions (e.g. LR, ZAP, CLC)
• Assembler directives (e.g. START, CSECT, DC, LTORG, EQU, AIF, END)
• EBCDIC codes
• Condition code summary
• I/O "channel commands" for various devices
• Hexadecimal conversion

External links

• IBM/360 Green card image by Charles Eicher
• Green, yellow and other cards by Dave Alcock
• Complete reference card in PDF format.
• A "green card" for OOP by Leslie J. Waguespack, Jr., Ph.D. from 2007