Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #164870

Re: So, what was your computer birthplace?

From	Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid>
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers
Subject	Re: So, what was your computer birthplace?
Date	2016-06-10 02:38 +0000
Organization	NewsGuy - Unlimited Usenet $23.95
Message-ID	<njd97r02pv2@news6.newsguy.com> (permalink)
References	<njc77f$jot$1@dont-email.me> <slrnnlk25l.k3r.howard@foxtrot.local>

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On 2016-06-10, Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> wrote:

> On 2016-06-09, gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339 <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> wrote:
>
>> The result of all that exposure was that I feel uneasy with any
>> computer system where I am not in complete control or lack
>> knowledge about what is hiding under the API with which I interact,
>> and it is that sense of unease that motivates me for my language and OS 
>> ideas.

I take it you're not comfortable with Windows or Macs, then.

> I hear that.  Too much abstraction can be an issue, getting in the way
> of understanding what's actually happening.  What I'm starting to
> understand is that such a deep understanding is no longer always
> necessary.

Perhaps, but people are going overboard sometimes.  An extreme case is
Air France flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic after instrument
malfunctions created a situation that might have been survivable had
the crew's understanding of the basics of flight not atrophied.

But anyway, back to the topic...

My first step into data processing occurred in 1965, when at the tender
age of 15, on a visit to an uncle's, I saw a large binder on a bookshelf
labeled UNIVAC.  (I still have it.)  I took it down and started reading
about how to wire a plugboard for the 1004 card processor, one of which
was at the company where uncle worked as an accountant.  A couple of
months later he took me in to the office and I got my hands on the
equipment and even wired up a board with a small program of my own.
(Extra trivia: the system used 90-column cards.)

I took computer science at the University of B.C. from 1968 to 1971,
and ran programs on their 7044 and 360/67.  Between my second and third
years (summer 1970), the Univac contacts I made during my 1004 experience
enabled me to find a summer job at a small service bureau that had a 9300.
I was already becoming disenchanted with the highly theoretical approach
that the CS classes were taking, and suspected that my third year was
going to be my last.  I arranged my course schedule so I had Thursdays
off, and continued working part-time at the service bureau.  As I
expected, my third year was pretty much a write-off (although access
to the computers was fun), and at the end of the year I dropped out
and went to work for the service bureau full-time.

When I started at the service bureau they had with a pure card system
with 16K of memory, although we soon added a pair of 8411s (clones of
the IBM 2311), which we later upgraded to a pair of 8414s (equivalent
to two 2314 spindles) and increased memory to a whopping 32K.
(It took us a while to figure out what to do with all that space.)
We wrote in RPG if it would do the job, assembly language otherwise.

My first assignment was to take two programs - a summary written in
assembly language and a detail listing written in RPG - and combine
them (translating the RPG code into assembly language) so that they
could get both listings with one pass through the cards.  It was a
good introduction for a newbie programmer just learning RPG - it
wasn't vital to the company, but once I got it going, it saved
machine time, which was in short supply.

I was a big fan of assembly language from the time I first wrapped
my head around it.  This was one more reason I didn't get along in
the computer science world - they were into the latest and greatest
high-level languages and considered assembly language beneath them.
(I wrote term projects in assembly language partly out of spite.)
One course introduced a new language every two weeks: LISP, UMIST,
SNOBOL4, pl360, and of course several flavours of Algol: 60, 68, and
W.  I dodged that bullet by first taking the fun courses like operating
system design, then dropping out before getting to the more theoretical
stuff.

It was the x86 which finally soured me on assembly language.  Fortunately,
there was C for me to move to, although for business applications I had
become fluent in COBOL and RPG.

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

Thread

So, what was your computer birthplace? "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-09 17:58 +0100
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-06-09 13:36 -0500
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? bert <bert.hutchings@btinternet.com> - 2016-06-09 12:02 -0700
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? mentificium@gmail.com - 2016-06-09 12:27 -0700
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Joe Makowiec <makowiec@invalid.invalid> - 2016-06-09 20:15 +0000
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? artie <artie.m@gNOSPAMmail.com> - 2016-06-09 14:53 -0700
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Mike Causer <m.r.causer@goglemail.com> - 2016-06-11 20:32 +0100
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> - 2016-06-10 00:24 +0000
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-06-10 02:38 +0000
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2016-06-10 03:59 -0300
        Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-10 06:58 -0400
          Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-10 11:22 +0000
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-10 09:52 +0100
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-10 11:49 +0100
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-10 11:23 +0000
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-10 12:45 +0100
        Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-10 12:57 +0100
          Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-10 13:57 +0100
            Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-10 14:35 +0000
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-06-10 13:30 +0200
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2016-06-10 12:10 -0400
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Alfred Falk <falk@arc.ab.ca> - 2016-06-10 17:09 +0000
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2016-06-10 19:25 +0200
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2016-06-10 22:28 -0400
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-11 10:48 +0000
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-06-11 13:01 -0700
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2016-06-11 17:39 -0400
        Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-06-13 14:25 -0700
          Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-13 17:47 -0400
            Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2016-06-13 18:37 -0400
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-06-11 13:12 -0700
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-11 18:07 -0400
        Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-06-13 14:36 -0700
          Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-13 18:28 -0700
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2016-06-11 15:48 -0700
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-11 22:45 +0100
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2016-06-11 13:15 -0700
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-11 14:22 -0700
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-11 22:17 +0000
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-11 15:48 -0700
        Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-12 09:18 +0000
          Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-12 07:01 -0400
            Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-12 11:09 +0000
              Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-12 07:24 -0400
                Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-12 12:37 +0100
                Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-12 11:46 +0000
                Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-12 11:44 +0000
                Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-06-12 15:55 +0100
                Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-12 15:15 +0000
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? mick <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2016-06-12 14:29 +0000
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-12 15:35 +0100
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-06-12 15:51 +0100
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Renaissance <unknown@unknown.invalid> - 2016-06-13 09:59 +0200
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Renaissance <unknown@unknown.invalid> - 2016-06-13 10:06 +0200
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Renaissance <unknown@unknown.invalid> - 2016-06-17 16:11 +0200
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Jon Elson <jmelson@wustl.edu> - 2016-06-13 17:27 -0500
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2016-06-16 19:27 -0400
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2016-06-17 12:41 +0000
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2016-06-17 16:55 -0400
    Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2016-06-17 14:16 +0100
      Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2016-06-17 08:22 -0500
  Re: So, what was your computer birthplace? Jim Rymarczyk - 2016-06-17 08:35 -0500

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