13 Mar
1999
13 Mar
'99
7:46 p.m.
On 13 Mar 99 at 1:11, Buck Savage wrote:
Larry:
Given your start in computing in the mid-fifties, you must now be
in your mid-sixties. I was one who started in the early 70's (as
early as my 12-th year) and am now 41. The machine was
an IBM 370/155 with 1MB of main memory, and the language was
APL (APL*PLUS from Scientific Time Sharing).
Pretty close, I'll begin my 63rd year this summer. I never spent any great
length of time on computers untill the early 80s and then the late 80s till
now. Being closer to it ,you've likely seen much more computing than I.
I did use a slide-rule at college tho. :^))
Well, it is true that the machines of the 50's
were the so called
Unit Record devices and the low quality mainframes of the day,
like the 7090, the 1620 (if I get the numbering correct) and the
1401 (all of IBM fame). I had the privilege of working with such
Unit Record devices, and even to have programmed a few of the
old style plug boards.
I am greatful that those days are over!
William R. Buckley
Actually, I got a kick out of wiring up plug boards. Tangible logic.
Why I prefer Hardware over Software.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com