Re: [PiDP-11] RCS/fortran [was:Reversed rotary encoder action]

[Mike Markowski]

Kill fortran??  :-o  Sacrilege!  :-)  But I admit I'm now mainly a python programmer - like fortran, it has complex numbers that I need and use daily at work (RF lab).  When real speed is needed, though, fortran still saves the day.  I realize I'm likely in a niche situation!

As to version control, I know I used rcs in 1991.  My first exposure -might- have been 1985 at Burroughs (aka Unisys) on an FAA contract as one of roughly 110 Mode S air traffic control transponder designers.  I was fresh out of school, though, and everything was new, plus focus was heavily on the design.  With so much to learn, the software tools didn't make a lasting impression on me but I have vague recollections of version control of some sort.

Mike

On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 8:47 AM Bert Driehuis <drie...@playbeing.org> wrote:

I used rcs on a PDP/11 around 1984, and got my other employer to purchase the MKS toolkit for MS-DOS around the same time. I ported RCS to VAX/VMS myself, so that was covered too.

When I switched jobs in 1991, my boss did not blink when I requested source code control and coverage analysis software for the new project. The dollar cost of not doing source code control and testing were obvious for anyone to see. All my friends worked at places where source code control was standard, but that may say more about my selection of friends than about the industry :-)

I did not manage to kill FORTRAN and MACRO though, even after I showed the hidden costs (and fixed a couple of nasty issues in the old code in the process).

-- Bert