1. Re: [OT]Early Computer Experiences ()
- Posted by Ricardo Forno <ricardoforno at tutopia.com> Feb 23, 2007
- 533 views
SIXS wrote: > > I started out wiring boards on IBM EAM (electronic accounting > machines).sorting those punched cards I programed IBM 7080 in a autocoder., > > IBM 1401( 4k size),( bootstrap cards for fun,) and IBM 1410,. I wrote Cobol > > language for the IBM 360, (TOS, DOS, OS, operating systems)( debugging > with core dumps) IBM7090, HP3000, and CDC computers? I lost a job because > > the guy was too young to know several IBM computers I had programmed .I > programmed basic on the VAX.computer. I had a Commodore 64 and an Amiga > 1000. before the IBM PCs took over. I think I was 3 years old when I > started, still in diapers. > JIM I graduated as a highways engineer in 1959, and had an end-of-course 3-month trip to USA. (I live in Argentina). There, I saw what now I think was an IBM-650, and wondered: what on earth is this??? Two years later, I entered IBM Argentina. I got courses and practices with unit-record machines, and then my old love: IBM 1401. I also programmed bootstrap cards and sent the program to TIE (remember that?) They were what I called Universal Bootstrap cards, because they cleared memory for any memory size, contrary to standard cards, which served only for a fixed size. For fun, I programmed a poem generator program and a music player with the 1403 printer. We gave a demo to the President of Argentina, playing the Ituzaingo march. I wrote an assembler (then known as SPS) called CAST for the 1401 and while doing this I first met the hashing technique. Then, I switched to the IBM/360 and wrote mainly assembler and FORTRAN programs. I introduced the APL language in Argentina. Only about in 1980 I had my first personal computer. It was a Commodore 64. With it, I programmed my first music composer program in BASIC, and a chess playing program written in Pascal and assembler. ¡Qué tiempos aquéllos! (probable translation: Good old times!) Best regards.