[TheForge] OT - Telcom stuff

[Andy Vida]

Bob Ehrenberger wrote:

> --- Reply
> Not CPM, PDP/11 assembler. 

	Not CPM, PCM... Pulse Code Modulation. :)
	We had a PDP-11 tricked out with every Plessy
	peripherial you care to name.  And 64K RAM.
	Ahhhh... hardware... sweet sweet hardware....

> Programmers now wouldn't beleave
> what could be done in 40K of memory. 

	And how.  I was once a fairly serious assembly language
	twiddler.

	When I was assigned to evaluate C++ for AT&T as a candidate
	to replace C, the first thing I did was write the proverbial
	"Hello World" program.  cfront generated a 4M executable!
	In 1991 that was still a very big file.

> ---Reply
> One of our best guys used to tweek management by using terms like "work
> unit" and "interchangable morons" for system passwords.

	Hee hee... Dan the Genius and I used to have a sheet on our
	cube walls that said "A fool with a tool is still a fool".
	God did that piss everyone off. 
> 
> We could bet that when they changed our benifits it was to save the company
> money not make things better for the employees.

	Gee, how surprising.

> ---Reply
> Unfortunatly there are a lot of guys out there that think they can program
> just because they can put together a couple system calls and not crash the
> program.

	Well, it's funny you mention that.  I remember when I learned
	Prolog programming.  I distinctly recall having held the clear
	opinion that that was not programming at all.  I learned real
	programming when I was doing 360 Assembly language, or 6809,
	6502, 68000...

> They don't have a clue about design. 

	They don't have to.  All the thinking stuff is done for them.

> I found that even most
> comming in with degrees didn't really contribute anything of value for 6mo
> to a year.

	These days I would say this is true.  I have seen the college
	curricula in "computer science".  It's a joke anymore, what with
	VB as the fundamental programming language.  Many schools no longer
	require assembler programming or even FORTRAN or C.  The heart of
	the theoretical CS curricula seems to have been torn out of several
	schools.  Talk to some kids about finite automata and they look at
	you as if you were trying to bugger them in the nostril.

> 
> Token Blacksmith content.  When Bob Patrick demoed at our conference a
> couple years ago he made the comment that almost anyone can make something
> nice out of steel if they spend enough time at it, a real blacksmith can do
> it quickly and over and over. 

	Just watch Clifton Ralph doing his thing and you will see what
	defines a true, production-grade blacksmith, at least for me.
	That guy is amazing.

> ---reply
> My boss was right about one thing, I did earn a lot of money as a software
> engineer. I used it to get out of debt and buy the blacksmith equipment I
> needed to get out and do something that I love to do.

	That is what I'm looking to do, but I think I will be working
	a long time to dig out of $1M in debt.  Perhaps I should open
	a bordello...