tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post3165949944326331614..comments2024-03-27T15:41:01.956-04:00Comments on rhymeswithplague<br>rhymeswithplague<br>rhymeswithplague<br>rhymeswithplague<br>rhymeswithplague: My dad graduated from the school of hard knocks rhymeswithplaguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-26006689445373413722022-07-26T06:04:58.023-04:002022-07-26T06:04:58.023-04:00Bob, your last sentence about boors is true. If my...Bob, your last sentence about boors is true. If my parents criticised me for anything it was always kind and constructive. Both, particularly Mum, were very much against negativity. I have tried to be the same.Graham Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11196744947133121475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-42882249639293188592022-07-25T13:37:56.368-04:002022-07-25T13:37:56.368-04:00Obviously I meant sea, not see!Obviously I meant sea, not see!rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-28969999298760461452022-07-25T13:36:17.897-04:002022-07-25T13:36:17.897-04:00Graham, I learned programming before there was suc...<b>Graham,</b> I learned programming before there was such a thing as computer courses in the post-grad world, to say nothing of Computer Science departments in universities all across the land. We learned from the IBM Corporation in the military, and then I went to work for IBM after I left the military. In later years when I helped with project management in AT&T, all of the mainframe programs were written in COBOL by others.<br /><br />I conclude from your last paragraph that you are a good person. Boors with agendas of their own will always criticise, no matter what you do.rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-18322248469625033612022-07-25T13:28:09.836-04:002022-07-25T13:28:09.836-04:00Tasker, I used to make binary patches into object ...<b>Tasker,</b> I used to make binary patches into object decks of IBM cards using an 010 keypunch. I am really, really old. My first programming language was JOVIAL (Jules Own Version of the International Algorithmic Language, Jules being Jules Schwartz of Scientific Data Systems, later Xerox Data Systems). We used it to code programs for the Single Integrated Operations Plan (SIOP) on the ITT AN/FSQ-31V computer at SAC Headquarters in Omaha. I'm talking 1962 through 1965 here. I never learned COBOL at all but was happy to discover that DO in Jovial corresponded to FOR in Fortran. For a couple of years I was an assembler--language programmer for a while on the IBM 1130, where space was at such a premium we used *-* (current address minus current address) instead of defining a constant for zero. rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-2360746937157633992022-07-25T13:19:04.689-04:002022-07-25T13:19:04.689-04:00Emma, I don't think student loans had even bee...<b>Emma,</b> I don't think student loans had even been invented when I needed them, or if they had my dad had drilled into my head the absolute foolishness of going into debt. You're right, learning can continue up until the day we die thanks to computers and smart phones. rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-10903460815590620672022-07-25T13:17:06.735-04:002022-07-25T13:17:06.735-04:00I love the fact that even you, Bob, can err. I thi...I love the fact that even you, Bob, can err. I think the owl and the pussycat went to sea. I drew a picture of them doing just that recently.Graham Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11196744947133121475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-64309469749196531572022-07-25T13:16:24.871-04:002022-07-25T13:16:24.871-04:00Adrian, binary is not a programmer's nightmare...<b>Adrian,</b> binary is not a programmer's nightmare, it's the mother's milk of data processing. I'm very thankful for hexadecimal notation as debugging a System/360 dump would have been a hornet's next otherwise. I'm talking ancient history computer-wise here; I haven't programmed in decades.<br />rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-51411156157763718492022-07-25T13:01:15.627-04:002022-07-25T13:01:15.627-04:00Adrian, I must have hit a nerve. I'm sorry. ...<b>Adrian,</b> I must have hit a nerve. I'm sorry. You know a lot more about spherical triangles and sines and stuff than I do. The only thing I know about going to see is that an owl and a pussycat did it in a beautiful pea-green boat. That's not exactly true, as my dad was a Navy man in the Second World War and talked about it every single day of his life from then untl the day he died in March 1967. I don't know about "most folk in Blog land"; I only know about myself. Keep commenting!rhymeswithplaguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10870439618129001633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-70304362953340786622022-07-24T17:30:16.365-04:002022-07-24T17:30:16.365-04:00I did COBOL as a subsid subject in a post-grad bus...I did COBOL as a subsid subject in a post-grad business degree back in the early '70s. I remember absolutely none of it. I had no idea of the significance of 65,536. My late elder son taught me to programme in Basic when he was about 10 or 11. He went on to do a doctorate in computer science but died before graduation day.<br /><br />Frankly I have never judged anyone on the pieces of paper they hold but on what they have actually learned in life and what sort of people they are.<br /><br />I once gave the job of office manager (which actually involved a lot more than the title might suggest) to a former RAF officer who had never been to University and I was criticised because of it. Of course he was absolutely first class at the job (I'm quite good at choosing people for jobs and modest too).<br /><br />Graham Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11196744947133121475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-62861223653172920782022-07-24T04:19:55.038-04:002022-07-24T04:19:55.038-04:00Some academics believe true ability is the ability...Some academics believe true ability is the ability to switch between different mental representations of the same thing. I won't quote references but I can also do binary. <br />Which programming language did you start with? On my masters course we learned COBOL, Pascal and Assembler. I loved the logic of Pascal, hated the 'moving things around from shelf to shelf' approach of COBOL, and Assembler interfered with my life - I couldn't look at car number plates without thinking things such as "SNA = subtract number from accumulator". Tasker Dunhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17634612033217902946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-19145948689004496802022-07-23T14:17:54.756-04:002022-07-23T14:17:54.756-04:00I delayed going to college because I married inste...I delayed going to college because I married instead. When I finally enrolled I had four children and a husband to care for. The husband left and I still had four children to care for. Finances are what kept many of us from continuing our educations. Now it doesn't really matter because a degree would not change my retired status. I can learn the things I wish by looking them up on the computer.mimmylynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17033859925824024745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-8279468120253387192022-07-23T11:19:27.841-04:002022-07-23T11:19:27.841-04:00Just looked it up.
It's a programmers nightma...Just looked it up. <br />It's a programmers nightmare it's binary. Is it 10 and hundreds more tens to log 2. Hey programmers join the real world and forget that one silly number. Do what we all do with machine coding when the silly computer rejects G-code. We just add or subtract .001 of whatever. Governments would pay to have it sorted, it would take posh programmers five years to achieve bugger all and that's where money goes. Adrian Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09061432566298145837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2286321024842109960.post-77969925179452054822022-07-23T11:06:30.953-04:002022-07-23T11:06:30.953-04:00Yes it's a natural number. Start pissing about...Yes it's a natural number. Start pissing about with (i) and you'd lose me.<br />I don't have to know its two or three to some power as computers do that bit. Like I no longer have to know that a spherical triangle has an included angle starting from 0° and going to 360. Real buggers to calculate long hand, lots of sines to the minus ones or sine plus 90° to the minus ones, same thing. In the days before Sat Nav we had to do those calculations in indelible ink so they could be checked later in case one fouled up with ones star altitude reductions. We were allowed a single line strike through before starting again. No rubbing out allowed. We quick sticks learned to do them on scrap paper then copy a respectable result into the ships log. It passed the day on at sea. Our mathematics may not have been Euclid level but it was far in excess of school teacher expertise or even understanding. Try and imagine the mental gymnastics of a submarine navigator before they had computers. Okay a few fouled up but they still got about. Most folk in Blog land would struggle to upload software. Many struggle to use it once it's uploaded. <br />Thank heaven for Apps. They allow the stupid to look competent. That is until they are put in charge then they foul up big time. Adrian Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09061432566298145837noreply@blogger.com