Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Bob Eager Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: COBOL and tricks Date: 30 Oct 2022 22:18:27 GMT Lines: 33 Message-ID: References: <574555364.680474584.174865.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org> <5bOdndBzuNkG5kL_nZ2dnUU7-UnNnZ2d@earthlink.com> <9mYDK.543533$70j.452979@fx16.iad> <4e6dnbM2AIdWO33_nZ2dnUU7-cXNnZ2d@earthlink.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net mK0l8Bb1BDOui5xL0u9PIAjURmP2f53DqfMile+p4VNKLhZxf1 Cancel-Lock: sha1:whOnNUQcMQt0IWfN11fzIXFKXf4= User-Agent: Pan/0.145 (Duplicitous mercenary valetism; d7e168a git.gnome.org/pan2) Xref: csiph.com alt.folklore.computers:222233 comp.os.linux.misc:35833 On Sun, 30 Oct 2022 20:47:18 +0000, Vir Campestris wrote: > One of my first projects was to improve the performance of some tape > backup software by using more buffers. I used three in a ring which > meant there was one being read, one being written, and one being queued > up on the slower of the disc or tape. > > It's 40 years ago now, but I can still remember standing in front of the > (reel to reel, mainframe 1600BPI drive) with a grin on my face watching > it spinning around when one of the operators came over and said "Looks > like you have a tape runaway there". (A runaway is when you've told the > drive to seek to something, and it isn't there.) > > I just lifted up my arm slowly and pointed at the write light. I did some work for a large financial company, writing a compiler for a query language that had been compiled and interpreted by COBOL programs. I got a BIG speedup, enough to secure some new contracts. They (the UK office) then asked me to implement it on another kind of machine. We discovered that the US parent office (in Boston, I think) had declared that the Brits were wasting their time and it couldn't be done. The UK guy had faith in me. And we got a massive speedup there too. -- Using UNIX since v6 (1975)... Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org