RE: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-22 Thread Hal Kaplan
Chet Gardner wrote ...   = Those of us who had to work on IBM mainframes, just as those = of us subjected to windoze now, had to suffer through that period. =  = Anyway, I prefer VFP... I/O WAS a bear in Fortran... =  I have two general comments to make and they are not directed at Chet

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-22 Thread Chet Gardiner
My problem in hindsight is that it's hugely time consuming compared to any WYSIWYG report designer. I WROTE a report designer in Fortran back in the late 70s. That was huge fun -- lots of math... C Hal Kaplan wrote: Chet Gardner wrote ... = Those of us who had to work on IBM mainframes,

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-21 Thread Andy Davies
Chet Gardiner said As for Algol, it was killed by the first 500 pound gorilla - IBM. Algol was killed by its own academic exclusivity: the same fault as I critised in Fortran at the start of this thread. I say exclusivity but perhaps I mean otherworldlyness - the assumption that computers would

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-21 Thread Chet Gardiner
Hmmm, just as C was killed by its own academic exclusivity? Just as VFP is an extension of dBase so could Algol, etc. have evolved. I really meant that Borroughs was killed by the first 500 pound gorilla - IBM. My point would be that IBM didn't have a machine on the market that could really

[NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ed Leafe
From the obituary: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Andy Davies
The passing of an era. To be truthful I have always thought that the contribution of Fortran was overstated, certainly as regards commercial computing (input/output? - Do you mean the teletype?; Permanent storage? - why would you need that - the program types out the anwer at the end!)

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ed Leafe
On Mar 20, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Andy Davies wrote: To be truthful I have always thought that the contribution of Fortran was overstated, certainly as regards commercial computing (input/ output? - Do you mean the teletype?; Permanent storage? - why would you need that - the program

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Vince Teachout
Ed Leafe wrote: On Mar 20, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Andy Davies wrote: The fact that it was the first non-Assembler-level language was pretty significant, IMO. And it was fun. And I got an A+ in the course. ___ Post Messages to:

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ray Heilman
As a fourth year computer science major, I took Fortran, taught by an SA that was also in our program, for a foreign language credit. I now wish that I had taken a language that I could speak to a greater number of people. 8-) RayTheOtherRay --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Jack Skelley
Vince: I don't know about fun... Back in the day when I took Fortran IV (1972 @ NC State) on an IBM 360 we punched cards and handed them to a student operator. Days later (I mean days - 1 on a fast return time and more likely 2 or 3 g) you got your printout back only to find that the operator

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Vince Teachout
Jack Skelley wrote: Vince: I don't know about fun... Back in the day when I took Fortran IV (1972 @ NC State) on an IBM 360 we punched cards and handed them to a student operator. Ah, that's probably what made the difference. When I started college, my semester was the first semester

[NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Eurico Chagas Filho
Hei Back 76 I was using an interpreted language called FINITE, which had an interpreter to translate it to FORTRAN, U of I in Urbana-Champaign. E. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.15/728 - Release Date:

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ed Leafe
On Mar 20, 2007, at 3:29 PM, Vince Teachout wrote: Ah, that's probably what made the difference. When I started college, my semester was the first semester they used terminals instead of punch cards. I bet Punch Cards would take the joy out of anything, not just Fortran. :-)

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Vince Teachout
Ed Leafe wrote: I wrote both Fortran and Cobol using punched cards. I wrote Basic on a teletype (paper) display with punched paper tape as my storage. COBOL using punched cards?! OMG, it was wordy enough on screen. Do you still have nightmares where you're in Hell, punching

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Chet Gardiner
From the article: When a tour guide inquired, Mr. Backus mentioned that he was a graduate student in math; he was whisked upstairs and asked a series of questions Mr. Backus described as math “brain teasers.” It was an informal oral exam, with no recorded score. He was hired on the spot. As

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Chet Gardiner
I had one job in '77 -- working with a Cobol Program on cards -- all 4 boxes of it. We were getting about 8-11 hour turnaround on compile/test runs. That is, put the box in and wait 8 to 11 hours for the output. One typo on a punched card would really get one in a tizzy. I hated Cobol. It

RE: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread John Weller
This is starting to get like the Monty Python sketch :-) John Weller 01380 723235 07976 393631 Ah, that's probably what made the difference. When I started college, my semester was the first semester they used terminals instead of punch cards. I bet Punch Cards would take the joy

RE: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread John Weller
The Four Yorkshiremen I think where each tries to outdo the others on what a hard life they had as children. John Weller 01380 723235 07976 393631 On 3/20/07, John Weller [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is starting to get like the Monty Python sketch :-) Which one? I was thinking more

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ed Leafe
On Mar 20, 2007, at 4:24 PM, John Weller wrote: The Four Yorkshiremen I think where each tries to outdo the others on what a hard life they had as children. Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a

RE: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread John Weller
I am not entirely convinced that that is a recommendation :-) John Weller 01380 723235 07976 393631 One of the advantages of working in Python is that you are surrounded by people who appreciate this stuff. In fact, the central repository for code is called the Cheese Shop.

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ed Leafe
On Mar 20, 2007, at 4:33 PM, John Weller wrote: I am not entirely convinced that that is a recommendation :-) I fart in your general direction! -- Ed Leafe -- http://leafe.com -- http://dabodev.com ___ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Ted Roche
On 3/20/07, John Weller [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Four Yorkshiremen I think where each tries to outdo the others on what a hard life they had as children. Ah, yes, something along the lines of We had to live in a cardboard box under the bridge. Well, at least you had a box. Yes, it's exactly

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Jerry Wolper
To be truthful I have always thought that the contribution of Fortran was overstated, certainly as regards commercial computing (input/output? - Do you mean the teletype?; Permanent storage? - why would you need that - the program types out the anwer at the end!) The fact that it

RE: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Jerry Wolper
This is starting to get like the Monty Python sketch :-) Which one? I was thinking more DIlbert... You had zeroes? We had to use Ohs... The Four Yorkshiremen I think where each tries to outdo the others on what a hard life they had as children. For the record, that was originally from the

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Vince Teachout
Jack Skelley wrote: and 1/6 and a regular 1/16 scale. A prized possession for sure! Kool! Having a terminal meant you could easily play Star Trek! Every play that in Fortran? It could be done with cards but not much fun waiting for the turn-around! Regards, It was actually on there,

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Chet Gardiner
Actually, isn't that from the 1948 show? Ed Leafe wrote: On Mar 20, 2007, at 4:24 PM, John Weller wrote: The Four Yorkshiremen I think where each tries to outdo the others on what a hard life they had as children. Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha'

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Chet Gardiner
Don't tell me, Monty Python and the Holy Grail... Ed Leafe wrote: On Mar 20, 2007, at 4:33 PM, John Weller wrote: I am not entirely convinced that that is a recommendation :-) I fart in your general direction! -- Ed Leafe -- http://leafe.com -- http://dabodev.com

Re: [NF] Fortran's creator dies

2007-03-20 Thread Chet Gardiner
I wrote an accounting system including a user-defined report writer in Fortran on a Data General mini-computer in the late '70s You could do ANYTHING with Fortran!!! As for Algol, it was killed by the first 500 pound gorilla - IBM. Algol was the machine language for the Borroughs 5500/6500