<<I learned 1401 Autocoder and then BAL on an 8K 360/20. Wrote maybe 30,000 lines of operating systems code in 15 years. Left behind my 370/195 (4 megs !!) for coins. In another five years you'll be half my age.>>
Been there, done that. Only I am older. I had a monstrous table on the 1401 where my data word of two characters was shorter than the address of 3 characters. Hurray for word marks.
<<Has anyone here written programs on Hollerith cards?
I have. One line per card. Put the stack of punched cards in the hopper with a weight on top. Press the button, etc....>>
I once had a 12,000 card deck of data. Every time the EAM team ran it to make a signal list and a location list, they lost a few cards. That was a major headache. We ended up putting a card in for every pin even if unused. Then on the location list we added up all the pin numbers for each connector. If the number was off we knew we had to replace a card. Usually that was done just copying it from an earlier list.
That is another headache we had. We had a photoelectric reader/punch on the computer. The tape produced fed a mechanical reader on a manufacturing numerical control machine. We had a lot of trouble getting the two machines to communicate.
I still code almost all my projects in Fortran. Sometimes with a few C wrappers. It's great for numeric stuff / data analysis. Not too low level and not too high. There are excellent free compilers (GNU / gcc) and they support multiprocessing to use the latest hardware. It will never die because there are millions of lines of code in it that run great.
At my job people developed something that took 2 days to run, so I converted it to Fortran and it ran in 30 seconds (usually it's a factor of 10 faster). Since almost every language can link to a DLL, depending on what people like to use, I've made DLLs in Fortran and interfaced them to VB.NET, C#, and Java (using jna, not jni).
I have a friend who used to tease me 20 years ago that I "still" coded in Fortran. The joke got old after awhile and I still laugh when he tries it. It's not about "how old" something is, it's about "how good" it is. Examples: hammer, shovel, scissors, socks, ...
<< <i>Let me tell you about getting old..... I learned Basic.....and needed it to program my Robin (Digital Equipment computer)....that was the last 'language' I learned .... Cheers, RickO >>
I tried to minor in computer science but they only offered 15 credit hours. Total.
I learned basic after Fortran and Cobal. Oh my.
bob
Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
Comments
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Call Obama, he is a topnotch coder in the healthcare business. >>
Why make things political like that? Uncalled for. >>
Not sure >>
Someone looking for me??
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Call Willis , he is a top notch orator in the diplomacy business. >>
Why make things numismatic like that? Uncalled for. >>
Not sure >>
Someone looking for me?? >>
Fixed it for the sake of numismatists everywhere.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Yes, I know I sound like a geek.
Good luck,
Dave
Has anyone here written programs on Hollerith cards?
I have. One line per card. Put the stack of punched cards in the hopper with a weight on top. Press the button, etc....
I think it was in Fortran.
It was a relic when I was in college but I'd use it for simple programming assignments when all the computer terminals were full.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Been there, done that. Only I am older. I had a monstrous table on the 1401 where my data word of two characters was shorter than the address of 3 characters. Hurray for word marks.
I have. One line per card. Put the stack of punched cards in the hopper with a weight on top. Press the button, etc....>>
I once had a 12,000 card deck of data. Every time the EAM team ran it to make a signal list and a location list, they lost a few cards.
That was a major headache.
We ended up putting a card in for every pin even if unused. Then on the location list we added up all the pin numbers for each connector.
If the number was off we knew we had to replace a card. Usually that was done just copying it from an earlier list.
That is another headache we had. We had a photoelectric reader/punch on the computer.
The tape produced fed a mechanical reader on a manufacturing numerical control machine.
We had a lot of trouble getting the two machines to communicate.
It's great for numeric stuff / data analysis. Not too low level and not too high.
There are excellent free compilers (GNU / gcc) and they support multiprocessing to use the latest hardware.
It will never die because there are millions of lines of code in it that run great.
At my job people developed something that took 2 days to run, so I converted it to Fortran and it ran in 30 seconds (usually it's a factor of 10 faster).
Since almost every language can link to a DLL, depending on what people like to use,
I've made DLLs in Fortran and interfaced them to VB.NET, C#, and Java (using jna, not jni).
I have a friend who used to tease me 20 years ago that I "still" coded in Fortran.
The joke got old after awhile and I still laugh when he tries it.
It's not about "how old" something is, it's about "how good" it is.
Examples: hammer, shovel, scissors, socks, ...
<< <i>Let me tell you about getting old..... I learned Basic.....and needed it to program my Robin (Digital Equipment computer)....that was the last 'language' I learned .... Cheers, RickO >>
I tried to minor in computer science but they only offered 15 credit hours. Total.
I learned basic after Fortran and Cobal. Oh my.
bob