Comments on: if (backus.LT.alive) then write (*,*) ‘farewell’ endif http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/observations/news/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/ My life, my sculpture...and other things Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:44:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Cynthia http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/observations/news/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Cynthia Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:01:12 +0000 http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/03/20/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/#comment-36 Knew about the Hollerith card columns (some trivia just stays with you, I guess), but wouldn't have the faintest about how to do an 029...just as well, I guess. This blog is the biggest grab-bag of stuff I've seen, I think, so anybody coming here looking for glass is liable to find...obituaries for famous computer programmers... ;-) Knew about the Hollerith card columns (some trivia just stays with you, I guess), but wouldn’t have the faintest about how to do an 029…just as well, I guess.

This blog is the biggest grab-bag of stuff I’ve seen, I think, so anybody coming here looking for glass is liable to find…obituaries for famous computer programmers… ;-)

]]> By: Gary Brown http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/observations/news/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/comment-page-1/#comment-35 Gary Brown Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:20:17 +0000 http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/03/20/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/#comment-35 To me, the REAL test of an old timer is if you know how to do an 029 keypunch drum control card! Of course you know the reason that DOS monitors are 80 characters wide, don't you? The Hollerith card was 80 columns! Oh my, the glass folks are going to think they wandered in the Wrong Blog! Oh well, I'll just send 'em over to <a href="http://www.userfriendly.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.userfriendly.org</a> to see what REAL geeks are like . GcB To me, the REAL test of an old timer is if you know how to do an 029 keypunch drum control card! Of course you know the reason that DOS monitors are 80 characters wide, don’t you? The Hollerith card was 80 columns!

Oh my, the glass folks are going to think they wandered in the Wrong Blog! Oh well, I’ll just send ‘em over to http://www.userfriendly.org to see what REAL geeks are like .

GcB

]]> By: Cynthia http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/observations/news/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/comment-page-1/#comment-34 Cynthia Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:17:11 +0000 http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/03/20/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/#comment-34 IBM 1130--you beat me, then. My school had an old VAX, but I pretty quickly got a compiler for my home IBM PC (and had to upgrade to a whole 640K RAM) so I could "practice." I remember my professor insisted that I code twice--once on a keyboard and again on punch cards "...because you never know when those monitor things will fail..." Since PCs (and monitors and keyboards) had been around for years this was not exactly forward thinking... ;-) IBM 1130–you beat me, then. My school had an old VAX, but I pretty quickly got a compiler for my home IBM PC (and had to upgrade to a whole 640K RAM) so I could “practice.” I remember my professor insisted that I code twice–once on a keyboard and again on punch cards “…because you never know when those monitor things will fail…” Since PCs (and monitors and keyboards) had been around for years this was not exactly forward thinking… ;-)

]]> By: Gary Brown http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/observations/news/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Gary Brown Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:21:24 +0000 http://www.morganica.com/bloggery/2007/03/20/if-backusltalive-then-write-farewell-endif/#comment-33 Yup, let's place a "1" in the first column of our FORMAT statements so we can do a high-speed chain printer full-box-of-paper-in-five-seconds page eject sequence in his honour. Gary (I first learned Fortran IV on an IBM 1130 in '68) Brown Yup, let’s place a “1″ in the first column of our FORMAT statements so we can do a high-speed chain printer full-box-of-paper-in-five-seconds page eject sequence in his honour.

Gary (I first learned Fortran IV on an IBM 1130 in ’68) Brown

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