*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@social.cleverlibre.org

@k11m1 I wrote a long reply, reminescing of my student times and learning this -- and posted it as reply to another post in the Local Feed, so it gets to be see more.

Link to it -- https://qoto.org/@design_RG/104189418692709660 -- and your user is in it too.

That could become a Blog post sometime soon, this is how some of mine started.

Thanks for the memories. 😃

@k11m1 Yeah, it was something that was needed when computing power was a precious resource, much less common, and we needed to conserve it.

Good things resulted from that - people created solutions to enable remote access, shared systems, one large machine that processed tasks from many people or departments; scheduling, so you could slot a job for some late hour when there were less people around.

Following the logic is a good thing, as you write line by line, it should make sense, and flow -- or else, why did you use that line, and the next?

There are pesky typos that break things, but other than those small input errors, the code should be understandable and make sense.

Someone else might have to work on it someday, and that will make their job easier and faster too.

Back in time programming languages were developed to cater to some specific need or group of users; making it easier to create the projects they needed.

We used Fortran, which is Formula Translation; it was created for Science and Engineering students and professionals.

I had a room mate who was in the Math department, we were both 1st year students, had the same Profs (from Math department), and the same assignments.

But his class used another language, called Algol - which was a better fit for Math people's needs.

We enjoyed comparing the finished results of our assignments; quite simply, we looked at the thickness of each other's stack of cards. Sometimes, Algol would win (win being a smaller deck, less processing time), other times Fortran got it. 😄

It was my first time ever seeing and working with a computer -- a mammoth Burroughs 5500 mainframe, and I loved every aspect of it.

Over time, I observed that I could tell right away when something was broken in a new project.

* When I had my source code written up, the next step was to hand it in, for a pool of secretaries who would prepare our cards, overnight. Or find a spare IBM punch machine somewhere (my preferred, faster route).

* Got the cards? Processing time! Go to the computing center, and get in line with other students with their own decks; we lined up outside, in front of a room that contained a card reader (input) and a large printer (output). This was a smaller room, wired to the computer next door which was all air conditioned to around 18 degrees C year around.

* The card reader had two doors, it's own Input and Output of student processing; in via one, hand in the deck, watch it be read, get a printout, out via the other door.

* As the deck was handed in and loaded into the card reader, we stood watching, hoping for a good run. Any result would produce a paper printout, those continuous paper forms. Many times, it was a report of an error at some point.

* processing took some seconds; and I noticed that sucess or failure was indicated by the card reader behaviour; a perfect program would pass thru the reader in linear fashio, smooth flow. I got excited, maybe this time it's all Good!!

* I also noticed that hesitations in the stack flow indicated errors; it would stop at some card, pause or a few seconds, Bad sign! 😔 Soon it would resume, a short report printed, and a more or less dejected student headed out door #2.

...to go back to his desk, his notes and code write up. Read the report (quite cryptic usually), and trace thru the programme to find what was wrong.

Getting a smooth card reader flow was an instant sign I might have made it - and at best happened at the 3rd try or so (worse sometimes, in harder jobs or if you weren't focused enough).

Some great work was done in developing whole languages to be used for teaching Programming, like Pascal -- good habits would carry on into a professional's work life, and be appreciated by anyone working with this person, or later maintaining their legacy code.

#QotoJournal #History #Technology #Programming #Retro #IT

@banna
😄 Glad you came, I usually offer people a guide to mastodon and the Fediverse, not sure if you need one (clue - the Fediverse emoji you used on the first post)

But if you like just ask and I can post the links. Getting to bed time, so have a good night!

@freemo

@banna Our admin here is going to love to see your intro post -- and have someone to discuss those topics with.

@freemo

@banna Welcome to Qoto, Paul!

Z(1) = Y + W(1)

#Fortran Statement in this #Vintage #computing input device.

The famous "punched cards", which each cold hold 80 characters or one line of programming instructions or data for processing.

I learned this language, and created my assignments in decks of those cards.

Back in November, when I was starting here, we had a delightful thread about it, which included this image.

@k11m1 -- see it here : https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103154401406648568

#QotoJournal #History #Technology #Programming

@k11m1 LOL...

It is not impossible, but it takes a lot of concentration, and hopefully a smaller programme to work with.

When I first learned, we did not have access to computers directly at all; that was reserved for the high priesthood, serving the needs and whims of the large, school gym sized computer center. We students would create our programmes, that had to do some task assigned by profs.

And later get the lines of code ready for input -- punch cars for us. I did my own punching, found a quiet room wth a machine in the Physics department, little used, and would go there to prepare my deck,

Because testing was laborious (revisions equaling new cards needed, finding a punch, etc) we tried the best we could to read and follow the logic.

But I think getting it bug free in 3 passes was good, very good.

Fast forward many years, and me teaching basic programming; my students were bright, did well, but they found it quite hard to create a small programme in paper only (without trying to run and see what happens, to find the errors).

This was good for discipline, but it is less common. They whined everytime I called for a pencil and paper only task, lol.... 😺

Three little ones.

#cats #mastocats #catsofMastodon #meow #xp
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RT @gayocats
1169972770674
https://twitter.com/gayocats/status/1262113164398718976

...but I am not the only one...

#cats #mastocats #catsofMastodon #meow #xp
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RT @PuffMagicKitty
They say I’m a dreamer.
https://twitter.com/PuffMagicKitty/status/1262070242668404736

Feeed Us!!

#cats #mastocats #catsofMastodon #meow #xp
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RT @ParisZarcilla
This may look like a glorious morning view but these piercing eyes followed by a chorus of shrieking meows demand one thing only; Breakfast. Now.
https://twitter.com/ParisZarcilla/status/1261952579770220544

So pretty, now no longer with us. Farewell, Tundra. RIP, little sister. 😢

#cats #mastocats #catsofMastodon #meow #xp
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RT @tundraqueencat
I left to be with my brother this morning 🌈 my family is devastated. Thank you for y’all’s kindness 💙 farewell friends ☀️
https://twitter.com/tundraqueencat/status/1262057628705923076

@a1batross

Very good, thank you!

@Husky @freemo @nolan @yann2