printer The IBM 2741, a slow but letter-quality printing
device and terminal based on the IBM Selectric typewriter.
The "golf ball" was a little spherical frob bearing reversed
embossed images of 88 different characters arranged on four
parallels of latitude; one could change the font by swapping
in a different golf ball.
This was the technology that enabled
APL to use a
non-
EBCDIC, non-
ASCII, and in fact completely non-standard
where it stayed, firmly rooted, for the next 20, until
devices with the flexibility to support other character sets.
(1994-12-15)