I can no longer resist getting my $.02 worth in here.
I've read a lot about somewhat older technology today, but shall we go
really back? How about learning to program wire boards? That is the first
thing I learned in school. Then we moved to RPG, Cobol, and FORTRAN etc.
In those days we used 80 column cards. Colleges and Universities didn't
offer computer science programs or degrees the schools were "store front"
schools offering a certificate.
My first job was working for a department store (3rd shift), my job was to
sort the day's charges and payments (80 column cards) into account order
then merge them with all the other charges (cards). What a mess when the
sorter or merger jammed. Then on the appropriate billing date we processed
the cards through "the" computer to generate statements and a balance
forward card for the next statement. The trays of cards were stored in
tables, the tables took up about the square footage of a 3 car garage. I
lasted about 6 months or less, hated nights.
The next company I worked for had an IBM 1130 computer, for those who don't
know it was an engineering machine. It had been adapted to run business
applications in Fortran. Later the company got the latest & greatest IBM
System 3, model 10. This revolutionary machine used 96 column cards with
tiny round punch holes. I remember being really happy when I was authorized
to double the memory of our CPU. This came in a box about .5 larger than a
shoebox and weighed 80 pounds. Man was I happy to go from 8K to 16K of
memory. We used single platter enclosed removable disks and the Sys3 had
fixed disks.
You talked about many things in this thread but how about printers. We used
to use "line" printers that printed 60 to 80 lines a minute. That's about a
page to a page and a quarter per minute. They were so noisy that they had
to be in a room by themselves and created a lot of paper dust. We used the
"green bar" paper 14 7/8 x 11, nice for taking up space on your desk and
real easy to file (not). They printed with a band and of course it would
break at the worst possible time.
We've come a long way baby, to coin the phrase from an old cigarette
commercial.
Well I've likely bored you enough already, but that's what 33 years does to
you in the profession.
Have a great day!
Warren R. Eddy
Information Services Manager
National Tube Form, LLC
Phone: (219) 478-2363 ext 217
Fax: (219) 478-1043
Warren.Eddy@...
-----Original Message-----
From: Dunn, Nancy [mailto:ndunn@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 1:51 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] [OFF TOPIC] Old age
This is just to good to be left out of. The good old days.... Fortan,
Cobal, RPG, BASIC, and JCL. Disk Platters. After the last couple of days
I'm ready for the old days - pre internet, but then I would miss you guys.
nancy
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Funte [mailto:tfunte@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 12:48 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] [OFF TOPIC] Old age
My main programming in college was COBOL. C was just a concept in
programming.
Just before Y2K hit I wondered if I should dig out the old COBOL code and
fix some Y2K bugs for extra cash. As it turns out, I doubt many companies
actually FIXED any COBOL. It probably got dumped in the garbage with all the
other artifacts you folks have been talking about.
Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
I've read a lot about somewhat older technology today, but shall we go
really back? How about learning to program wire boards? That is the first
thing I learned in school. Then we moved to RPG, Cobol, and FORTRAN etc.
In those days we used 80 column cards. Colleges and Universities didn't
offer computer science programs or degrees the schools were "store front"
schools offering a certificate.
My first job was working for a department store (3rd shift), my job was to
sort the day's charges and payments (80 column cards) into account order
then merge them with all the other charges (cards). What a mess when the
sorter or merger jammed. Then on the appropriate billing date we processed
the cards through "the" computer to generate statements and a balance
forward card for the next statement. The trays of cards were stored in
tables, the tables took up about the square footage of a 3 car garage. I
lasted about 6 months or less, hated nights.
The next company I worked for had an IBM 1130 computer, for those who don't
know it was an engineering machine. It had been adapted to run business
applications in Fortran. Later the company got the latest & greatest IBM
System 3, model 10. This revolutionary machine used 96 column cards with
tiny round punch holes. I remember being really happy when I was authorized
to double the memory of our CPU. This came in a box about .5 larger than a
shoebox and weighed 80 pounds. Man was I happy to go from 8K to 16K of
memory. We used single platter enclosed removable disks and the Sys3 had
fixed disks.
You talked about many things in this thread but how about printers. We used
to use "line" printers that printed 60 to 80 lines a minute. That's about a
page to a page and a quarter per minute. They were so noisy that they had
to be in a room by themselves and created a lot of paper dust. We used the
"green bar" paper 14 7/8 x 11, nice for taking up space on your desk and
real easy to file (not). They printed with a band and of course it would
break at the worst possible time.
We've come a long way baby, to coin the phrase from an old cigarette
commercial.
Well I've likely bored you enough already, but that's what 33 years does to
you in the profession.
Have a great day!
Warren R. Eddy
Information Services Manager
National Tube Form, LLC
Phone: (219) 478-2363 ext 217
Fax: (219) 478-1043
Warren.Eddy@...
-----Original Message-----
From: Dunn, Nancy [mailto:ndunn@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 1:51 PM
To: 'vantage@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Vantage] [OFF TOPIC] Old age
This is just to good to be left out of. The good old days.... Fortan,
Cobal, RPG, BASIC, and JCL. Disk Platters. After the last couple of days
I'm ready for the old days - pre internet, but then I would miss you guys.
nancy
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Funte [mailto:tfunte@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 12:48 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] [OFF TOPIC] Old age
My main programming in college was COBOL. C was just a concept in
programming.
Just before Y2K hit I wondered if I should dig out the old COBOL code and
fix some Y2K bugs for extra cash. As it turns out, I doubt many companies
actually FIXED any COBOL. It probably got dumped in the garbage with all the
other artifacts you folks have been talking about.
Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/