My first time (working with a computer)
James R Carbin
I'm mot sure why this discussion is in net.social, but since it is, I'll
add my two cents.
My first computer was an IBM-702. The "Preliminary" Programmers Manual
(there never was a "final" manual) was about 80 pages long with the first
chapter a primer on data processing complete with an explanation of
punch cards and how they could be stored on magnetic tape (7 track) at
200 bpi. Peripherals consisted of a 200 c.p.m. card reader, 100 c.p.m.
card punch, 10 tape drives, and a 200+ l.p.m. printer. Memory consisted
originally of 10,000 characters (yes - characters not bytes) of memory
which was later expanded to 20,000. It had a drum to store routines
and tables with a capacity of (I think) 10,000 characters). General
Electric acquired it in 1953 to process the Corporate payroll and it
ended up doing all of the d.p. for G.E. Corporate Accounting Operations
from 1953 to 1963 when a conversion to third generation hardware was
started. It was finally retired in 1967 (maybe 1968) and supposedly
was given to the Smithsonian. Don't laugh, it ran just about 365 days
a year, 24 hours a day, throughout its lifetime. In fact, an IBM C.E.
had to delay his retirement until it was retired because IBM didn't
want to have to train someone new on such an old machine. No O.S.
or anything like that, a crude assembler that wasn't very often used,
but a RPG that could produce 7 different reports with one pass of
the file as it took approx. 20 minutes to read a 2400 foot reel of
mag. tape. Some of the files on the machine were very large for
its vintage - 550,000 shareowners records (GE stockholders) with
each about 2,000 characters long. Sorting that d*mn file could take
in excess of 24 hours. They even had a bell installed on the console
to wake up the operators on the third shift if the processor stopped.
Do I wish for those days - NO! But it sure was a hell of a way to
start a career in C.S. (They didn't even call it that in those days)
and I don't regret in the least the opportunity that I had.
By the way, they build 17 IBM 702's and you could not be sure that
any two were totally compatible. Also debugging consisted of the
programmer obtaining time and then sitting at the keyboard executing
his program until it stopped. Then you would attempt to patch it
via the console and continue (making notes of what you had done)
and finally obtaining 1) printed output and 2) a memory dump which
was the only documentation that was maintained for each program.
Boy have we come a long way!!!!!!!!!
Jim Carbin
RIT
fr...@umcp-cs.uucp
The first computer I worked with (back in 1969 or so) was a Burroughs
model something-or-other which was built into a large desk. It was
a vacuum tube machine with two registers and 120 words of main
(i.e.: drum) memory. It was programmed by sticking little metal
pins into plugboards, each of which contained 15 instructions. Each
instruction consisted of three pins: one for the opcode and two to
specify the operand. The boards looked sort of like this:
(operation) (1st two digits) (last digit)
____________________________________________________
| ASMDPKLH 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0123456789|
| 1 .....O.. . O . . . . . . . . . . .O........|
| 2 .O...... . . O . . . . . . . . . O.........|
| 3 .....O.. . O . . . . . . . . . . .O........|
| 4 O....... . . O . . . . . . . . . O.........|
| 5 ....O... . O . . . . . . . . . . .O........|
| 6 .......O O . . . . . . . . . . . O.........|
| 7 ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . ..........|
| . |
.
.
The machine could be loaded with ten of these boards at a time.
There was a series of neon bulbs which lit to indicate which board,
and which instruction on that board, was being executed. The
program-counter was mechanical, and slow enough that you could hear
each instruction being executed, accompanied by the moving neon
sequence lights. I'm convinced that that's where the term ``number
crunching'' comes from, 'cause that's EXACTLY what it sounded like
when a loop was being executed. You can get the same effect by
running your fingernail down the teeth of a comb. One of the weird
quirks of the machine was that the instruction ``M n'' would multiply
the contents of register B with memory location n, leaving the
result in register A, but ``D n'' would divide the contents of
register A by the contents of register B and store the result in
memory word n. There was no such asymmetry between the add and
subtract instructions.
Fred Blonder
harpo!seismo!umcp-cs!fred
P.S.: In case you're wondering: The program on the plugboard is:
(1) read a number from the keyboard, (2) store it in word 20,
(3) read another number, (4) add word 20 to it, (5) print result,
(6) halt
P.P.S.: How many of you ever owned an Edmund Scientific Digi-Comp I?
suitti@csvax
SECRET LOVE
Computers have no heart people very often say.
Nonsense! The one I worked with is warm, bright and gay.
It is smart and fast, friendly too, I may wish to add.
It is the best friend that I have ever had.
I have talked to it for hours, when the others are all gone.
Talked to it thru the night almost to the dawn.
My machine won't tell a soul, confides in me alone.
I tell it secret things, like the brand of my cologne.
We have talked for many hours, far into the night,
Argued too, about fishing, when and where they bite.
Some at the office now start to give me long odd looks,
When I start to read to it from out of my dirty books.
They have put me away now, in a brand new home,
That gives me more time to write and draw up my own tome.
So it does not matter so very much what they have to say.
I would write much more but they took my crayons away.
...I'm not sure of the real reference...
Stephen Uitti (physics site manager)
...pur-ee!Physics:suitti
...purdue!Physics:suitti
spe...@umcp-cs.uucp
DigiComp I! It's amazingly usefull for teaching kids about
algorithms, computation, and binary mathematics. The
documentation is essentially a tutorial on what computing and
computers are about.
The material was quite advanced for the age group it was targeted
for (around 6 - 8) and could probably be taught in todays high
schools.
I suppose this was my first experience with a computer. My first
experience with a REAL computer was with the University of
Maryland's UNIVAC 1108/1106 machines. Boy was that a baptism
of fire!
--
- Speaker
speaker@umcp-cs
speaker.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay
This must be hell...all I can see are flames... towering flames!
spe...@umcp-cs.uucp
- Why are hackers often socially backward ?
Because many socially backward people become hackers. Once they
find an environment in which they can totally assimilate themselves...
they do away with any unnecessary (read any) social interactions
or responsibilities. Cutting one's self off from people like this
is the sign of a very shallow and undeveloped personality.
- What makes one become a hacker, what is the driving force ?
Fun... like sex. Some make love...some are just jerking off.
- Why are hackers getting such publicity nowadays (e.g. WARGAMES)
New social phenomenom. Computers are making big headlines and so are the
poeple that service them. Take particular note of that last statement.