Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/12/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ah, the building with the falling tiles ;-) john > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+john=chiaroscuro.co.nz at leica-users.org [mailto:lug- > bounces+john=chiaroscuro.co.nz at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Joseph Yao > Sent: Thursday, 27 December 2012 4:17 p.m. > To: Leica Users Group > Subject: Re: [Leica] Some artifacts at the Computer History Museum IMG: > > Electronic engineering. Then off to UCL in 1986. > > On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 11:00 AM, John McMaster <john at mcmaster.co.nz> > wrote: > > > Studying what? > > > > john > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > > > Small world. I also went to IC in 1983. > > > > > > Joseph > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 7:39 AM, John McMaster > <john at mcmaster.co.nz> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Punched cards were still in use at IC Mech Eng in 1982 (the year > > > > before I went there)...... > > > > > > > > John - catching up > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > > > > > > > Hi Piers, > > > > > your software could have been running alongside mine then, since > > > > > I was at IC! > > > > > Your card punching was much more onerous than ours though, at > > > > > Imperial there was a room with half a dozen punch machines we > > > > > could use (as long > > > > as > > > > > there was one free). > > > > > Frank > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >1970-71? > > > > > > > > > > > >Me too, but in my last year at (high) school, taking an > > > > > >elective course. The school had something like 30 minutes each > > > > > >month on the Imperial College mainframe in London, which > > > > > >involved gathering together the punched cards from the class, > > > > > >sending down to London by Royal Mail, receiving back the print > > > > > >out which was then split out to each user. I should clarify > > > > > >that the cards were pre-semi-punched, meaning that the user had > > > > > >to use a pin to push out the chads from each row/column by hand > > > > > to code the desired character. > > > > > > > > > > > >It took a while to do one line of code, even after the time it > > > > > >took to learn the fundamentals of Fortran IV programming! > > > > > > > > > > > >And then it took a while to get the response back from the > > mainframe. > > > > > > > > > > > >By post. > > > > > > > > > > > >Two ways. > > > > > > > > > > > >(I guess that was half-duplex transmission!). > > > > > > > > > > > >I remember the impatient waiting for the print-out to come > > > > > >back, but my memory of reading it is very clear... > > > > > > > > > > > >XXX SYNTAX ERROR LINE 100 XXX > > > > > > > > > > > >The school later graduated to having its own ICL1900 (if memory > > > > > >serves) on site, long after I had left. Wouldn't have made any > > > > > >difference to my skill-level! > > > > > > > > > > > >Piers > > > > > >