Was reel-to-reel a fact in the mid 1950s? I was wondering about punch cards.

A neighbor worked for a company that eventually became part of IBM, and she programmed for the Navy, starting in the 1950s, I think. I've heard her talk about punch cards. She was in a group, as I recall her story, that helped develop an OS that was called Ada.

Everyone who ever dealt with punch cards hated them and saw magnetic tape as a giant leap forward.