Posted on 11/12/2019 3:41:01 AM PST by ShadowAce
Worked for Burroughs for 38 years.
Languages I used::::
SOAPII
AUTOCODER
GMAP
COBOL
B3500 Assembler
SDL
ALGOL
SDL was the best. Developed by Unisys small systems for system programming. System Development Language.
The only programming I ever actually enjoyed was assembly language.
Computers do not make mistakes. Programmers and data entry folks make the mistakes.
Hear hear! Garbage in/garbage out.
The reason I chose IBM was other firms had programming ads all over the place in the NYT, all using IBM software. So if I wasn’t offered an employment opportunity there, I had many other firms to apply to.
Boy, does that bring back memories.
Where I went to school, you could pick out the computer science majors; they all had a half dozen rubber bands around their wrists. The engineering majors had a slide rule in a holster on their hips. (The math majors were all off in their own world somewhere.)
An If is an If, a For is a For.
The one law that never changes: GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out
A diagonal stripe with a felt pen across the side of the stack helped.
My experience with programmers is that they are all artists at heart. To tell them that their software is not working as it was specified is the same as telling an artist you do not like his painting. I have had programmers tell me, “That is the best that I can do.” My “criticism” so crushed them that they could not bear to touch the defiled software again.
Get a grip. Do your job.
“Still have nightmares of a spilled box of the same!”
I have a box with the game “Advent” around here somewhere.
XYZZY
When I went to high school, early 60’s, no one knew what Data Processing was, now called IT. It was something done in large buildings on large machines. It was a big mystery as to what was being done in those buildings. LOL
> Why not Exclusive OR with your birth date.
Padding on both sides of the number with a couple of bits “keeps me centered” ;-)
... which allows for more possible combinations of numbers. Mostly its just a refresher for me to keep bit arithmetic in my head.
Now a lot of code is a hot mess. All poorly copy-pasted by some brainless H1B Indian that doesn’t understand how the code is even to function. Code quality in general has plummeted.
Desperate needer of elictricity. Yup. Mine has even trained me to supply it clean power through an UPS. I just wish the UPS were more reliable. I had one recently that I had to replace, because even the slightest bobble of power would cause it to drop like a stone. Even when said bobble wasn't enough to even reset the clock on my microwave.
The biggest lie, I think, is time. They will write something quick in an hour then spend three weeks making it work, but when asked how long it took they claim an hour.
“I write my pins on the back of my debit cards in binary with a bit shift. It helps keep me centered.”
Funny thing, I do it too! I’ll shift maybe three bits then flip the first. Simple to undo.
Great thing about XOR is after 3 times you’re right back where you started.
Yup.
What base is that ‘3’ in?
Swap values of two registers in place without another temp variable.
A XOR B
B XOR A
A XOR B
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