I went to a computer programming school in 1966 on an IBM 360. We also had an IBM 1180 that used Fortran. The first job out of school for my buddy was at a feed plant (So. Cal.). The govt had a strict set of ingredients for cattle feed as well as how much of each was allowed. He wrote a program that accepted the latest commodity prices and then figured out what cheapest mix could be formulated and stay with the guidelines. Later he did that for an ice cream maker. That was when it hit me why we were head and shoulders above the rest of the business world.
I worked for the USMC PX at Camp Pendleton then and we had vendors who gave 30-, 60-, 90-days same as cash deals. I wrote a program to pay only the 30-day guys and keep the other monies in an interest-bearing account until the 60- and 90-day bills were due. I thought it was nickel-dime crap, but the accountants told me we saved a bunch of money that way.
I imagine there were a lot of breakthroughs like yours and mine in those days.
Bump.