Smith Chart is both a visualization tool (as a chart) and a calculation tool (as a nomogram), you can use a printed Smith Chart to do RF-related calculations (impedance matching, return loss, etc) with a ruler and compass on a graph paper, pretty much like using a slide rule to calculate logarithm and trigonometry. I think it's why the OP compared it to a punch card.

It's true that today it's rarely used as a calculation tool, but it's still useful as a visualization. I don't think it's obsolete like punch cards.