Symbols in knitting have evolved considerably through the years since the day when all instructions were longhand and it was abbreviations used that would need de-coding. This is true of cables as well. I came across a magazine graph that led me to explore its conversions from hand to machine.
In the BW original graph cable stitches are represented by solid lines and dashed lines, stitches are moved in the direction of the upward slant. The “needles” with the solid lines will be moved first, the dashed lines follow to replace/fill the empty needles. The repeat below is 64 rows high, so if a card is used it would need to be created in two pieces, the last row on the graph is not part of the repeat itself. As is seen in knit alphabets, however, the fact that punchcard patterns are flipped vertically when the design is executed needs to be kept in mind if punched holes are used to track the cable repeats. Mirroring is required to match movements in the hand-knit original graph. Color blocks represent punched holes in the card. 
Using the card
green color blocks :
the left half of crossed stitches are moved first, taken off on the tool, held to the side
the right half of crossed stitches follow and are placed on the empty needles on left
the first held stitches in turn are then placed on needles now empty needles on the right
magenta color blocks :
the right half of crossed stitches are moved first, taken off on the tool, held to the side
the left half of crossed stitches follow and are placed on the empty needles on the right
the first held stitches in turn are then placed on needles now empty on the left
The markings on the punchcard machine’s needle tape correspond to needle selection for 24 stitch repeat, and that can be used as a guide, needles selected are intended to move toward the center at the bottom of each half repeat, and away from it in the top half, creating the diamonds.
If electronics are used and the repeats are other than 24 stitches wide, the needle tape may be marked with a water-soluble pen or removable color tape strips may be placed between the needles that are first and last in each repeat.
The imagined diamond shape tiled in width 
A possible chevron shape 
This is a downloadable pdf of some of my initial notes in sorting out the process dia_cables_card and a photo of the resulting swatch. The charts were created in Excel.
In punching and then using the card to knit the sample I initially completely forgot the fact that images are reversed horizontally when a punchcard is used.
In writing a 2022 post on using Numbers and Gimp for charting cables I realized there is an alignment error at the top of the punchcard repeat. The image below has the problem area in the card marked. A circle also marks the spot where operator error occurred with some twists being made in the wrong direction, 
the amended, now 72 rows tall card: 
Such techniques may be used in isolated portions of garments as opposed to all over.
A “simplified” interpretation of a similar knit pattern is seen below. 