Know Fortron? Cobol? Algol? Get a job at NASA!

[warrior queen]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/

NASA is looking for you..... if you are fluent in these ancient programming codes...

 

[oggbashan]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/

NASA is looking for you..... if you are fluent in these ancient programming codes...

I was. But that was then. This is now.

I found all of them slow and clunky compared with programming with machine code.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I was. But that was then. This is now.

Same here. Massively scaled COBOL programs for banks in the 1980s helped pay the mortgage at Stately Downsouth Manor. Haven't touched COBOL since 1993.

As the philosopher James Paul McCartney once said, "it's like a relic from a different age! Could be? Oooooeeey!"

I found all of them slow and clunky compared with programming with machine code.

^^^haven't seen such haughty systems programming snobbery since Byron went to his infernal reward.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/

NASA is looking for you..... if you are fluent in these ancient programming codes...

oh yes, government moving forward by sticking in the 1960's

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Fortran...

Yes. They are somewhat archaic now. I hope that's the point. Wen Ho Lee explains in his book how he had to take legacy software and reengineer it.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

*sniff* *sniff*

I miss LISP...

 

[oggbashan]

...

^^^haven't seen such haughty systems programming snobbery since Byron went to his infernal reward.

I was programming in the early 1960s. COBOL and FORTRAN used space we couldn't afford. We were processing so many transactions a day that a hundredth of a second saved on a repetitive program was vital. Even IBM 1401 Fortran was slightly slower.

My machine code skills were useless once the mainframe was upgraded.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I was. But that was then. This is now.

I found all of them slow and clunky compared with programming with machine code.

After being in the field for several years, I went back to college to get my degree. In Software engineering we were divided into teams and assigned a database program. The team of Chinese students went right to machine code (assembly language) while I invited my team over to the home office to use my xBase wysiwyg FoxPro compiler to write the program in one evening. I don't think the CHinese student ever got anywhere near a finished product.

 

[oggbashan]

After being in the field for several years, I went back to college to get my degree. In Software engineering we were divided into teams and assigned a database program. The team of Chinese students went right to machine code (assembly language) while I invited my team over to the home office to use my xBase wysiwyg FoxPro compiler to write the program in one evening. I don't think the CHinese student ever got anywhere near a finished product.

Writing in machine code was slow, boring and had to be meticulous. You didn't get error messages if you goofed with a single symbol. You just got a program that didn't work.

Of course compilers were better and easier to use - if you had the capacity on your computer for the little more space the compiler took. Now that's not an issue.

Most of my wordprocessing needs were met by WordStar on a 360k 5.25 floppy run by an IBM XT. All the improvements since then to MS Word are wasted on me.

That XT saved files faster than my current system and WordStar reacted faster than I could type. It never hung up or sent me an error message.

It still irritates me slightly that I need massive amounts of space for the programs. But that's because of my history. I don't really worry if I need another 10 gb, or a terabyte hard drive. I just want a computer than works and I don't want ***! fuck-ups by Microsoft.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I was programming in the early 1960s. COBOL and FORTRAN used space we couldn't afford. We were processing so many transactions a day that a hundredth of a second saved on a repetitive program was vital. Even IBM 1401 Fortran was slightly slower.

My machine code skills were useless once the mainframe was upgraded.

I hear you. I went to work for a company that had literally hundreds of COBOL programmers. The best 'n the brightest got trained in assembly language...they were the elite. Distributed processing and PCs rendered them obsolete in a few years.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Writing in machine code was slow, boring and had to be meticulous. You didn't get error messages if you goofed with a single symbol. You just got a program that didn't work.

Of course compilers were better and easier to use - if you had the capacity on your computer for the little more space the compiler took. Now that's not an issue.

Most of my wordprocessing needs were met by WordStar on a 360k 5.25 floppy run by an IBM XT. All the improvements since then to MS Word are wasted on me.

That XT saved files faster than my current system and WordStar reacted faster than I could type. It never hung up or sent me an error message.

It still irritates me slightly that I need massive amounts of space for the programs. But that's because of my history. I don't really worry if I need another 10 gb, or a terabyte hard drive. I just want a computer than works and I don't want ***! fuck-ups by Microsoft.

*chuckle*

We actually had to do it in the first year of school or two, but then it was on to Pascal, Modula II and LISP. It is necessary to understand architecture better and the others are better for black box programming. The best hours of college were spent with Dr. C___ in the math department working on programming proofs and problems.

 

[Ishmael]

What in the world do they need folks that are versed in those archaic languages for?

I settled in on 'C', especially those compilers that would swallow in-line machine code. Tis the nature of embedded systems where you don't have an O/S or all those other little niceties.

Ishmael

 

[warrior queen]

What in the world do they need folks that are versed in those archaic languages for?

I settled in on 'C', especially those compilers that would swallow in-line machine code. Tis the nature of embedded systems where you don't have an O/S or all those other little niceties.

Ishmael

Did you read the link?
They need someone who can run/maintain Voyager.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Did you read the link?
They need someone who can run/maintain Voyager.

He's gettin' up there in years, and no longer has time to actually read the links you post before proffering his opinion on The Way Things Ought To Be.

#TheLyinInWinter

 

[lovetoread]

If they need to find people old enough to know this language, then perhaps its time to upgrade the systems.

 

[warrior queen]

If they need to find people old enough to know this language, then perhaps its time to upgrade the systems.

I'm wondering how you'd manage that?!

 

[lovetoread]

I'm wondering how you'd manage that?!

Shoot it down and put up another.

 

[Sean]

I made a shitload of money in 1999 writing Y2K patches for legacy systems running COBOL.

 

[JohnnySavage]

There's a poster here named Cobol who is very pretty.

 

[girlsmiley]

There's a poster here named Cobol who is very pretty.

Do you mean Corbal?

 

[RobDownSouth]

I made a shitload of money in 1999 writing Y2K patches for legacy systems running COBOL.

I managed huge teams of contract Y2K COBOL programmers doing exactly that.

I remember IBM professional services stealing a ton of aging COBOL talent with the promise of re-training COBOL guys in "state of the art" technology post-Y2K. They gave 'em a quick one week course and promptly laid them off.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Do you mean Corbal?

That's what I said

 

[Ishmael]

Did you read the link?
They need someone who can run/maintain Voyager.

Nope, I didn't.

*chuckle* Voyager will probably outlast anyone they can find.

Ishmael

 

[Oh_That_Guy]

Shoot it down and put up another.

Shoot down Voyager and put up another? Do you know what Voyager is?

 

[Disgustipated]

There's a poster here named Cobol who is very pretty.

Corball is stupid beautiful.