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arts / rec.arts.sf.written / Re: OT - The old ones built it....

SubjectAuthor
* OT - The old ones built it....Andrew McDowell
+- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Bill Gill
+- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Scott Lurndal
+- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Dorothy J Heydt
+* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Lynn McGuire
|`- Re: OT - The old ones built it....pete...@gmail.com
+* Re: OT - The old ones built it....BCFD36
|+* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Quadibloc
||`- Re: OT - The old ones built it....BCFD36
|+* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Lynn McGuire
||`* Re: OT - The old ones built it....pete...@gmail.com
|| `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Lynn McGuire
||  +* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Scott Lurndal
||  |+* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Chris Buckley
||  ||`- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Scott Lurndal
||  |`* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Titus G
||  | `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Scott Lurndal
||  |  `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....The Horny Goat
||  |   `- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Andrew McDowell
||  +* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Andrew McDowell
||  |`- Re: OT - The old ones built it....pete...@gmail.com
||  `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Paul S Person
||   `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....pete...@gmail.com
||    `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Andrew McDowell
||     `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....John Halpenny
||      +- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Robert Woodward
||      `- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Hamish Laws
|+- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Dorothy J Heydt
|`- Re: OT - The old ones built it....The Horny Goat
`* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Quadibloc
 `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Lynn McGuire
  `* Re: OT - The old ones built it....Dimensional Traveler
   `- Re: OT - The old ones built it....Lynn McGuire

Pages:12
Re: OT - The old ones built it....

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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
From: petert...@gmail.com (pete...@gmail.com)
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 by: pete...@gmail.com - Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:16 UTC

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:03:48 PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Thu, 9 Mar 2023 14:56:06 -0600, Lynn McGuire
> <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> >> On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:34:29?PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> >>> On 3/8/2023 2:08 PM, BCFD36 wrote:
> >>>> On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> >>>>> From
> >>>>> https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-march-2023/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for
> >>>>> example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient
> >>>>> programming language with very few engineers left who understand it..
> >>>>
> >>>> My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards we
> >>>> had to give to the guy behind the counter.
> >>>>
> >>>> When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was still
> >>>> using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it. It
> >>>> had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a mess.
> >>>> The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software engineers. The
> >>>> damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!
> >>> I have many computed goto statements in my chemical process simulation
> >>> calculation engine that is written in 740,000 lines of F77 and 50,000
> >>> lines of C/C++. Computed gotos are so useful that the GCC C/C++
> >>> compiler has added support for them.
> >>>
> >>> https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2012/07/12/computed-goto-for-efficient-dispatch-tables
> >>>
> >>> As I am slowly converting my calculation engine to C++, the computed
> >>> gotos are being converted to huge switches since generic C/C++ does not
> >>> support them.
> >>
> >> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
> >> emulate computed gotos.
> >>
> >> Pt
> >
> >That is just ... wrong.
> I leave the morality of it to you, but it is certainly ill-advised.

It makes maintenance a nightmare, you have to leave very clear comments to
explain what's going on, for yourself as well as others. You also have to, before you
reach the modified code, make certain that it is in a known state.

I refer you to The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer:
https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html

Pt

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

<65d653ce-5c37-4d56-b9c8-20d1ea11b631n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
From: mcdowell...@sky.com (Andrew McDowell)
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 by: Andrew McDowell - Fri, 10 Mar 2023 19:49 UTC

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:16:59 PM UTC, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:03:48 PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
> > On Thu, 9 Mar 2023 14:56:06 -0600, Lynn McGuire
> > <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > >> On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:34:29?PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > >>> On 3/8/2023 2:08 PM, BCFD36 wrote:
> > >>>> On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > >>>>> From
> > >>>>> https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-march-2023/
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for
> > >>>>> example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient
> > >>>>> programming language with very few engineers left who understand it.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards we
> > >>>> had to give to the guy behind the counter.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was still
> > >>>> using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it. It
> > >>>> had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a mess.
> > >>>> The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software engineers. The
> > >>>> damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!
> > >>> I have many computed goto statements in my chemical process simulation
> > >>> calculation engine that is written in 740,000 lines of F77 and 50,000
> > >>> lines of C/C++. Computed gotos are so useful that the GCC C/C++
> > >>> compiler has added support for them.
> > >>>
> > >>> https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2012/07/12/computed-goto-for-efficient-dispatch-tables
> > >>>
> > >>> As I am slowly converting my calculation engine to C++, the computed
> > >>> gotos are being converted to huge switches since generic C/C++ does not
> > >>> support them.
> > >>
> > >> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
> > >> emulate computed gotos.
> > >>
> > >> Pt
> > >
> > >That is just ... wrong.
> > I leave the morality of it to you, but it is certainly ill-advised.
> It makes maintenance a nightmare, you have to leave very clear comments to
> explain what's going on, for yourself as well as others. You also have to, before you
> reach the modified code, make certain that it is in a known state.
>
> I refer you to The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer:
> https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
>
> Pt
I have been familiar with the idea of the Real Programmer from University, but my goal has always been, not to write Real Programmer code, but to write a programming version of what I take to the style of the pulps: clear description of the action, without exotic vocabulary or other affectation.

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

<610ae832-1418-45af-8c6a-4f141be426f4n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
From: j.halpe...@rogers.com (John Halpenny)
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 by: John Halpenny - Sat, 11 Mar 2023 01:55 UTC

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 2:49:26 PM UTC-5, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:16:59 PM UTC, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:03:48 PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
> > > On Thu, 9 Mar 2023 14:56:06 -0600, Lynn McGuire
> > > <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > >On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > >> On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:34:29?PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > >>> On 3/8/2023 2:08 PM, BCFD36 wrote:
> > > >>>> On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > > >>>>> From
> > > >>>>> https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-march-2023/
> > > >>>>>
> > > >>>>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for
> > > >>>>> example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient
> > > >>>>> programming language with very few engineers left who understand it.
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards we
> > > >>>> had to give to the guy behind the counter.
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was still
> > > >>>> using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it. It
> > > >>>> had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a mess.
> > > >>>> The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software engineers. The
> > > >>>> damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!
> > > >>> I have many computed goto statements in my chemical process simulation
> > > >>> calculation engine that is written in 740,000 lines of F77 and 50,000
> > > >>> lines of C/C++. Computed gotos are so useful that the GCC C/C++
> > > >>> compiler has added support for them.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2012/07/12/computed-goto-for-efficient-dispatch-tables
> > > >>>
> > > >>> As I am slowly converting my calculation engine to C++, the computed
> > > >>> gotos are being converted to huge switches since generic C/C++ does not
> > > >>> support them.
> > > >>
> > > >> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
> > > >> emulate computed gotos.
> > > >>
> > > >> Pt
> > > >
> > > >That is just ... wrong.
> > > I leave the morality of it to you, but it is certainly ill-advised.
> > It makes maintenance a nightmare, you have to leave very clear comments to
> > explain what's going on, for yourself as well as others. You also have to, before you
> > reach the modified code, make certain that it is in a known state.
> >
> > I refer you to The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer:
> > https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
> >
> > Pt
> I have been familiar with the idea of the Real Programmer from University, but my goal has always been, not to write Real Programmer code, but to write a programming version of what I take to the style of the pulps: clear description of the action, without exotic vocabulary or other affectation.

These days it seems pretty common to read about giant projects delayed or hanging up due to software issues. None of these new projects are written in Fortran. Just saying.

John

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

<robertaw-7FA534.21424510032023@news.individual.net>

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From: rober...@drizzle.com (Robert Woodward)
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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
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 by: Robert Woodward - Sat, 11 Mar 2023 05:42 UTC

In article <610ae832-1418-45af-8c6a-4f141be426f4n@googlegroups.com>,
John Halpenny <j.halpenny@rogers.com> wrote:

> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 2:49:26?PM UTC-5, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:16:59?PM UTC, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:03:48?PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 9 Mar 2023 14:56:06 -0600, Lynn McGuire
> > > > <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > > >> On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:34:29?PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > > >>> On 3/8/2023 2:08 PM, BCFD36 wrote:
> > > > >>>> On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > > > >>>>> From
> > > > >>>>> https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-i
> > > > >>>>> n-march-2023/
> > > > >>>>>
> > > > >>>>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for
> > > > >>>>> example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient
> > > > >>>>> programming language with very few engineers left who understand
> > > > >>>>> it.
> > > > >>>>
> > > > >>>> My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards
> > > > >>>> we
> > > > >>>> had to give to the guy behind the counter.
> > > > >>>>
> > > > >>>> When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was
> > > > >>>> still
> > > > >>>> using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it.
> > > > >>>> It
> > > > >>>> had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a
> > > > >>>> mess.
> > > > >>>> The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software
> > > > >>>> engineers. The
> > > > >>>> damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!
> > > > >>> I have many computed goto statements in my chemical process
> > > > >>> simulation
> > > > >>> calculation engine that is written in 740,000 lines of F77 and
> > > > >>> 50,000
> > > > >>> lines of C/C++. Computed gotos are so useful that the GCC C/C++
> > > > >>> compiler has added support for them.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2012/07/12/computed-goto-for-efficient
> > > > >>> -dispatch-tables
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> As I am slowly converting my calculation engine to C++, the
> > > > >>> computed
> > > > >>> gotos are being converted to huge switches since generic C/C++ does
> > > > >>> not
> > > > >>> support them.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code
> > > > >> to effectively
> > > > >> emulate computed gotos.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Pt
> > > > >
> > > > >That is just ... wrong.
> > > > I leave the morality of it to you, but it is certainly ill-advised.
> > > It makes maintenance a nightmare, you have to leave very clear comments
> > > to
> > > explain what's going on, for yourself as well as others. You also have
> > > to, before you
> > > reach the modified code, make certain that it is in a known state.
> > >
> > > I refer you to The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer:
> > > https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
> > >
> > > Pt
> > I have been familiar with the idea of the Real Programmer from University,
> > but my goal has always been, not to write Real Programmer code, but to
> > write a programming version of what I take to the style of the pulps: clear
> > description of the action, without exotic vocabulary or other affectation.
>
> These days it seems pretty common to read about giant projects delayed or
> hanging up due to software issues. None of these new projects are written in
> Fortran. Just saying.

IIRC, I was involved with some Fortran only projects (would a software
project involving 20 people over several years be giant?) that went over
budget. Things happen.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
From: hamish.l...@gmail.com (Hamish Laws)
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 by: Hamish Laws - Sun, 12 Mar 2023 05:03 UTC

On Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 12:55:21 PM UTC+11, John Halpenny wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 2:49:26 PM UTC-5, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:16:59 PM UTC, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:03:48 PM UTC-5, Paul S Person wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 9 Mar 2023 14:56:06 -0600, Lynn McGuire
> > > > <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > > >> On Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:34:29?PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > > >>> On 3/8/2023 2:08 PM, BCFD36 wrote:
> > > > >>>> On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> > > > >>>>> From
> > > > >>>>> https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-march-2023/
> > > > >>>>>
> > > > >>>>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for
> > > > >>>>> example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient
> > > > >>>>> programming language with very few engineers left who understand it.
> > > > >>>>
> > > > >>>> My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards we
> > > > >>>> had to give to the guy behind the counter.
> > > > >>>>
> > > > >>>> When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was still
> > > > >>>> using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it. It
> > > > >>>> had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a mess.
> > > > >>>> The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software engineers. The
> > > > >>>> damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!
> > > > >>> I have many computed goto statements in my chemical process simulation
> > > > >>> calculation engine that is written in 740,000 lines of F77 and 50,000
> > > > >>> lines of C/C++. Computed gotos are so useful that the GCC C/C++
> > > > >>> compiler has added support for them.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2012/07/12/computed-goto-for-efficient-dispatch-tables
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> As I am slowly converting my calculation engine to C++, the computed
> > > > >>> gotos are being converted to huge switches since generic C/C++ does not
> > > > >>> support them.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
> > > > >> emulate computed gotos.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Pt
> > > > >
> > > > >That is just ... wrong.
> > > > I leave the morality of it to you, but it is certainly ill-advised.
> > > It makes maintenance a nightmare, you have to leave very clear comments to
> > > explain what's going on, for yourself as well as others. You also have to, before you
> > > reach the modified code, make certain that it is in a known state.
> > >
> > > I refer you to The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer:
> > > https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/mel.html
> > >
> > > Pt
> > I have been familiar with the idea of the Real Programmer from University, but my goal has always been, not to write Real Programmer code, but to write a programming version of what I take to the style of the pulps: clear description of the action, without exotic vocabulary or other affectation.
> These days it seems pretty common to read about giant projects delayed or hanging up due to software issues. None of these new projects are written in Fortran. Just saying.
>
Damned near all projects take longer than scheduled for various reasons (largely person based)
There's no single technological solution that would prevent the failure/delays of most projects (and where a particular technology does help then the effect of it is incorporated in the initial schedule)

There are bad technical choices that can made delays/failures far more likely
- roll your own security versus using a proven provider is one
- ignoring standard communication approaches
- etc

and various environments do have strengths that reduce the chances of particular failures
As I understand it Fortran has extremely efficient and extremely well proven numerical solution libraries, anything where that's important would be worth considering Fortran in that area compared to some other languages without the same support
Against that there are other areas it doesn't support well (apparently not great UI support)

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

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https://www.novabbs.com/arts/article-flat.php?id=86292&group=rec.arts.sf.written#86292

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From: lcra...@home.ca (The Horny Goat)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
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 by: The Horny Goat - Sun, 12 Mar 2023 09:01 UTC

On Wed, 8 Mar 2023 12:08:34 -0800, BCFD36 <bcfd36@cruzio.com> wrote:

>On 3/7/23 23:04, Andrew McDowell wrote:
>> From https://www.navylookout.com/snapshot-the-royal-navy-escort-fleet-in-march-2023/
>>
>> Supporting them in service requires all kinds of workarounds, for example, the engine management software runs Fortran – an ancient programming language with very few engineers left who understand it.
>
>My first programming class at Cal was FORTRAN, using punched cards we
>had to give to the guy behind the counter.

Sounds a bit like my first experience with programming though we were
required to get "job cards" identifying our run which printed full
page identifiers on the print outs saying whose job it was. We fed our
cards into the auto reader and had to pick up the printouts which were
filed by first letter in your surname.

We're talking late 70s here.

>When I left Lockheed in 2014, the AEHF program (and others) was still
>using a simulator written in FORTRAN. I did some brief work on it. It
>had been around for many, many years at that time. It was also a mess.
>The guys who wrote it and maintained it were not software engineers. The
>damn thing still had "computed goto" statements in it!!!

Yup I remember those - the HP basic interpreter had them too.
(Typically going to one or another program lines based on the value of
a variable)

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

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From: lcra...@home.ca (The Horny Goat)
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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
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 by: The Horny Goat - Sun, 12 Mar 2023 09:06 UTC

On Fri, 10 Mar 2023 14:52:40 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

>Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> writes:
>>On 10/03/23 11:52, Scott Lurndal wrote:
>>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:
>>>> On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
>>>>> emulate computed gotos.
>>>>>
>>>>> Pt
>>>>
>>>> That is just ... wrong.
>>>
>>> Perfectly normal for small memory systems of that era.
>>>
>>> The Burroughs B300 had 3-operand instructions, but not all
>>> instructions used all three operands. The programmer was
>>> encouraged to use the unused (and ignored by the
>>> CPU) operands for utility and/or constant storage.
>>
>>That was fun but necessary because of limited memory mainly taken up by
>>the loaded program. I don't remember the Burroughs model my bureau
>>employers had but it was about 1970, input from punched cards and paper
>>tape, storage on eight foot high vacuum tubed tape decks, an unreliable
>>hard disk that was never used and no such thing as a screen though you
>>could pause operations to view specific addresses and whether the
>>individual bits (valves) were on or off.
>
>That would have been a system designed/built before 1965, since all the Burroughs
>systems thereafter were solid state (transistor first, then custom
>SSI logic (BCML) followed by TTL, followed by ECL) rather than vacuum tube/valve.

Glad you spelled that out - I spent 4 years with Burroughs in the mid
1980s (before I bailed to join the family business) - never did sell
my shares so suspect they're worth at most 5% of what I paid for them
as they got busted for procurement violations after I left which
tanked their share price.

Figured by the model number it had to be mid 1970s at the latest.

Still for anybody interested in ancient Burroughs equipment, Cape
Canaveral's history museum has recreated the Capcom area that launched
John Glenn and I got to sit in the Capcom's chair and push the button
that the sign said actually launched him.

That was far more interesting that the glitzy display (late 1990s)
featuring everything you wanted to know about the space shuttle and a
good deal more besides!

Re: OT - The old ones built it....

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Subject: Re: OT - The old ones built it....
From: mcdowell...@sky.com (Andrew McDowell)
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 by: Andrew McDowell - Sun, 12 Mar 2023 10:53 UTC

On Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 9:06:25 AM UTC, The Horny Goat wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Mar 2023 14:52:40 GMT, sc...@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
> wrote:
> >Titus G <no...@nowhere.com> writes:
> >>On 10/03/23 11:52, Scott Lurndal wrote:
> >>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> writes:
> >>>> On 3/8/2023 11:42 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>> Back when I was writing 6502 assembler, I used self modifying code to effectively
> >>>>> emulate computed gotos.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Pt
> >>>>
> >>>> That is just ... wrong.
> >>>
> >>> Perfectly normal for small memory systems of that era.
> >>>
> >>> The Burroughs B300 had 3-operand instructions, but not all
> >>> instructions used all three operands. The programmer was
> >>> encouraged to use the unused (and ignored by the
> >>> CPU) operands for utility and/or constant storage.
> >>
> >>That was fun but necessary because of limited memory mainly taken up by
> >>the loaded program. I don't remember the Burroughs model my bureau
> >>employers had but it was about 1970, input from punched cards and paper
> >>tape, storage on eight foot high vacuum tubed tape decks, an unreliable
> >>hard disk that was never used and no such thing as a screen though you
> >>could pause operations to view specific addresses and whether the
> >>individual bits (valves) were on or off.
> >
> >That would have been a system designed/built before 1965, since all the Burroughs
> >systems thereafter were solid state (transistor first, then custom
> >SSI logic (BCML) followed by TTL, followed by ECL) rather than vacuum tube/valve.
> Glad you spelled that out - I spent 4 years with Burroughs in the mid
> 1980s (before I bailed to join the family business) - never did sell
> my shares so suspect they're worth at most 5% of what I paid for them
> as they got busted for procurement violations after I left which
> tanked their share price.
>
> Figured by the model number it had to be mid 1970s at the latest.
>
> Still for anybody interested in ancient Burroughs equipment, Cape
> Canaveral's history museum has recreated the Capcom area that launched
> John Glenn and I got to sit in the Capcom's chair and push the button
> that the sign said actually launched him.
>
> That was far more interesting that the glitzy display (late 1990s)
> featuring everything you wanted to know about the space shuttle and a
> good deal more besides!
There is a timeline in which I joined Burroughs Cumbernauld in the early 1980s - it might have been good for my character but I am happy for the decision not to join them. Unisys is still around, so your shares might be worth something. I liked the crack that Unisys should have been called "Rabbit Computing" because although it was sold as an equal merger of Burroughs and Sperry Univac, "all the managers came from Burroughs".

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