Re: Student views on Ada

[CONDIC@PSAVAX.PWFL.COM]

From: Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93
Subject: Re: Student views on Ada
Original_To:  PROFS%"SMTP@PWAGPDB"
Original_cc:  CONDIC



on Thu, 22 Sep 1994 10:17:16, Robert Dewar <dewar@CS.NYU.EDU> writes:
>
>Marin, front panel lights are for sissies! The first time I programmed
>an Incoterm terminal, I had to enter a boot loader from the keyboard
>one hex digit at a time, completely blind with no feedback of any kind
>at all. It took 600 keypresses to enter it. Now that's REAL programming :-)
>
Robert:

When I started programming, we only had punch cards and paper
tapes, (and we were damned glad to have 'em, too! ;-) Nowadays,
these kids think they've got it rough if they have to work with a
VT340 terminal instead of a workstation! In *my* youth, what we
wouldn't have given for a simple bootstrap ROM...

But then there were the *real* old timers who sneered on my
reliance on paper tape and hex keypads. In *their* time, they had
to program machines with plug-in breadboards and jumper-wires.
(and they were damned glad to have 'em, too! ;-) They could even
identify programs by how they *sounded* when the relays were
clicking. Front pannel lights and toggle switches? Us kids didn't
know how good we had it! :-)

BTW: Do you remember programming the old TI-58 calculators? Now
*there* was a sport for Real Programmers!

MDC


Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer    ATT:        407.796.8997
M/S 731-93                                      Technet:    796.8997
Pratt & Whitney, GESP                           Internet:   CONDICMA@PWFL.COM
P.O. Box 109600                                 Internet:   MDCONDIC@AOL.COM
West Palm Beach, FL 33410-9600                  Internet:   4033121@MCIMAIL.COM
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