
On Wed, 14 Aug 2019 at 13:33, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2019-08-14 01:24 PM, Christopher Browne via talk wrote:
Oh, the good times of doing matrix calculations in Grade 12 "Computer Science"...
Back in my Gr 12 computer programming class, we learned Fortran and used pencil mark cards for our programs. The teacher would then take our cards down to the board office, to compile them. As long as they compiled, they were OK. They could have been complete garbage programs, but as long as they compiled... ;-)
We did something like that in Gr 11, only the mark cards produced some form of mainframe-based BASIC code. We put the decks into a box, similar story... It was somewhat sensitive to quality of pencil marks, and an insufficiently darkened cell would turn out badly for the program :-(. When one fellow in the class was enough of an entitled twit (has anyone ever gained anything from telling the class how high their IQ was???) his decks got occasionally defaced, or cards swapped. -- When confronted by a difficult problem, solve it by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"