In 1971-72 I used Fortran 4, D level, COBOL with only 8KB RAM, PL1 (supposed to be an amalgam of those two – just terrible, but my nemesis was Assembler Language.God save us from writing in Machine Language. I always wanted to create the command: RFBB. (Retrieve from Bit Bucket) and it was to be used immediately following SRR or SLR in case of screw-up. However, I was never able to figure out the address for the Bit Bucket… :-(We all celebrated when our IBM 360, Mod 20 computer with 512KB RAM was upgraded to 1 MB. A real feat because the tch had to physically install 521 KB of Ferrite Core Storage.Remember, eight bits per bite – and rolls and rolls of yellow wire tape.We were fascinated by all the blinking lights on the console – one light per Register, as our programs were processing..Remember 2×1 to the 31st power? (IIRC) . . . You haven’t lived until you have had to debug nested Do Loops !
michael.talvola about 10 years ago
Sadly, this is very true (or used to be…).
x_Tech about 10 years ago
Yeah, and you couldn’t code a FORTRAN output statement that won’t cause a print buffer overflow.So there!
chuuckcly Premium Member about 10 years ago
I prefer computed “Come-Froms”
CaptBullock about 10 years ago
My idea of an APL programmer was someone who’d proudly come up to you and say “See this code? You’ll never guess what it does!”
karanne about 10 years ago
Don’t look at me! The last thing I programmed in was Cobol.
tsandl about 10 years ago
Yeah, well you dereference null pointers and confuse “=” with “==” in your debugging code!
PoodleGroomer about 10 years ago
Your code is “write only” ‘cause even the computer can’t read it
pschearer Premium Member about 10 years ago
Spaghetti coder!
I once had a boss who couldn’t understand “i=i+1” because they obviously couldn’t be equal! I don’t know how he would react to “i++”.
PoodleGroomer about 10 years ago
Your big ideas only need 16 bit addressing.
ChessPirate about 10 years ago
“You think you’re a programmer? I only program with ‘Copy con’!”
Dragoncat about 10 years ago
Sigh… The boys are fighting again…
mightyfrog about 10 years ago
Odd coincidence – I used to code COBOL in Hilo – not for long though… C came along
mightyfrog about 10 years ago
Goto statements? Infinite Loops? What, is this 1984?
Shotgun15 Premium Member about 10 years ago
In 1971-72 I used Fortran 4, D level, COBOL with only 8KB RAM, PL1 (supposed to be an amalgam of those two – just terrible, but my nemesis was Assembler Language.God save us from writing in Machine Language. I always wanted to create the command: RFBB. (Retrieve from Bit Bucket) and it was to be used immediately following SRR or SLR in case of screw-up. However, I was never able to figure out the address for the Bit Bucket… :-(We all celebrated when our IBM 360, Mod 20 computer with 512KB RAM was upgraded to 1 MB. A real feat because the tch had to physically install 521 KB of Ferrite Core Storage.Remember, eight bits per bite – and rolls and rolls of yellow wire tape.We were fascinated by all the blinking lights on the console – one light per Register, as our programs were processing..Remember 2×1 to the 31st power? (IIRC) . . . You haven’t lived until you have had to debug nested Do Loops !
K M about 10 years ago