Re: What does 'DFH' means, thank you! -Reply -Reply

[cpwin...@gmail.com]

Back in the 60's I worked for A H Robins Pharmaceuticals as their 1st programmer. Ben Riggin was assigned to help us implement our 1st IBM 1401 computer system. At my current age of 78 I still haven't met anyone with the intellect and foresight in accurately predicting the future . He also handled the Data Processing needs of Virginia Power and other large companies. In 1962 he envisioned cell phones(Dick Tracy's wrist watch), laptops and something like the current internet although he didn't call it that. He basically would explain the potential of everyone having access to virtually unlimited information on any subject 24/7 365. As I understood it the time, Va Power had the need for each of their many linemen in the field to have access to data in their mainframe computer at the same time. Unfortunately the IBM hardware at that time in history required a modem and seperate phone line for each call. So Ben did his usual magic and developed software (CICS) that allowed unlimited calls concurrently on one phone line, much like the internet today. He also predicted that in the future unlimited data would be stored in the air. I guess that's what's called "Cloud Storage" today. It's been over 30 years since my programming days and have made no great effort to stay up-to-date technically so my thoughts/words are somewhat dated. Based on conversations with some old IBM employees and some outside of IBM with inside knowledge of Ben Riggins all pretty much share my opinion of the man. I remember back in 1962, before I had written my first program, he began educating me on being ready for the coming century. Particularly about allowing for automatic change from 1999 to 2000 without having to change any programs. He highly recommended we use a julian date format in designing files with dates by creating date conversion subroutine(s). My Riggins education has greatly enhanced my life both professionally and privately. Unfortunately I let life interfere and lost contact with Ben and found he had passed when I tried to renew our friendship. He was the most influential educator I've had the pleasure to be associated with and I'll never forget him. Chuck Wingfield cpwin...@gmail.com