- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

OT: What would you do with a 1Gbps connection to the internet?
by Joseph Oprysko 23 May '17

23 May '17

Just an interesting topic of conversation, since Verizon has the 960/880 connection, and Comcast is rolling out the 960/35 connections in the area. -- Normal Person: Hey, it seems that you know a lot. Geek: To be honest, it's due to all the surfing I do. Normal Person: So you go surfing? Normal Person: But I don't think that has anything to do with knowing a lot... Geek: I think that's wrong on a fundamental level. Normal Person: Huh? Huh? What?

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Exciting UNIVAC artifacts
by Evan Koblentz 23 May '17

23 May '17

Some of you may have heard that the Unisys Blue Bell (Penn.) Retirees Group recently closed due to lack of mission/membership. They donated all of their artifacts to VCF. The shipment will arrive soon. They said its contents include: - Digital and printed copies of their "Newsbits" newsletter from the mid-1980s to present, most issues are there - UNIVAC I programming guide (will pair nicely with the UNIVAC 1 technical guide they already donated a few years ago) - 50TH anniversary celebration book - CDs with interviews of Univac 1 workers - Ridge Ave. (their old factory) dedication book - Documents/photos "of the early days of Eckert-Mauchly Corp." ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] COBOL - HR hiring policies
by mike willegal 23 May '17

23 May '17

Certainly hiring is different from company to company, but my experience is different than what is portrayed in this thread. I have seen very little HR involvement in creating detailed job descriptions and requirements for new hires, other than making sure that the law is followed. In my experience, hiring managers set job requirements. regards, Mike Willegal

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Looking for a serial terminal
by Herb Johnson 22 May '17

22 May '17

> I'm interested in obtaining a RS-232 serial CRT terminal... Hint: when you want some physical thing, it always helps to say "I'm in [city, state, country]". Shipping, car travel, etc. I love it when I get such requests, and then find later the person is in Austraila. I'm in central New Jersey USA (see below). This actually happens to me. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Jason Scott rescue
by Evan Koblentz 22 May '17

22 May '17

Hey everyone. Jason Scott no longer needs the vast majority of his vintage computer collection. He's donating it to us for our museum and/or fundraising -- we'll make decisions when the collection gets to NJ. Who can help us rescue it? There are (at least) two full shelving units of hardware: https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/865598646120718337 This is located at his home in Hopewell Junction, NY. Contact me, not Jason. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation instagram.com/vcfederation

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] obsolescence of a language, was Re: COBOL
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 22 May '17

22 May '17

From: SMTP%"vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org" 22-MAY-2017 11:07:00.75 To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> CC: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> Subj: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] obsolescence of a language, was Re: COBOL Return-Path: vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org Received: from mailmanlists.network (192.34.61.247) by great-escape.tmesis.com (V5.7-ECO3, OpenVMS V8.4 Alpha); Mon, 22 May 2017 11:07:00 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [192.34.61.247] (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by mailmanlists.network (Postfix) with ESMTP id 412EF21372; Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:28 -0400 (EDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org; s=mail; t=1495465588; bh=mGaVWLEfX5XbSoUQ0Q2IZ4eF9ddjpjhL9B0c3tlzrRM=; h=To:References:Date:In-Reply-To:Subject:List-Id:List-Unsubscribe: List-Archive:List-Post:List-Help:List-Subscribe:From:Reply-To:Cc: From; b=ItCSTX+0ziJNkfJ0cDjMqnIwA8TzJ8Cpcr/Mmjy59JG2mLFJ7HihGbzHtUWoOB5Wy nMDjQrPJyd3LOE/EYKziTL2MJQdic62LWE/TrDOJuI4WG9sNIqbBg++d+QtacoA03f n/K/b9uZJnZfcgye8cyqdXI1jZGT8uk+1RMSa4PY= X-Original-To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org Delivered-To: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org Received: from mail.neurotica.com (mail.neurotica.com [50.73.179.3]) by mailmanlists.network (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B44B4211A9 for <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>; Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:26 -0400 (EDT) Authentication-Results: mailmanlists.network; dkim=pass (1024-bit key; unprotected) header.d=neurotica.com header.i=(a)neurotica.com header.b=AbhDIWvn; dkim-atps=neutral Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.neurotica.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EC14D95 for <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>; Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:26 -0400 (EDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at neurotica.com Received: from mail.neurotica.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.neurotica.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 78N-94myGo8G for <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>; Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [192.168.1.15] (gw.neurotica.com [50.73.179.1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: mcguire(a)neurotica.com) by mail.neurotica.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id AF924D94 for <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org>; Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:24 -0400 (EDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=neurotica.com; s=default; t=1495465584; bh=mGaVWLEfX5XbSoUQ0Q2IZ4eF9ddjpjhL9B0c3tlzrRM=; h=Subject:To:References:From:Date:In-Reply-To; b=AbhDIWvnsOC0AR9Ahe2Dl1pV/WXz6mdMoo2IH1rliZkcwtYs869a4V2braahHEycL OCt/tFPSTmIzRJqpkKKI/ErWDIJ0E+XI3jVuiWXjZ0ToRBm8SVhXvw8aHCpE+6lFCt fr4ARz0FnAM4e0KFh7LHWGjLDjJ/K/XSLQR7NsCg= To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> References: <17052211014274_23607106(a)tmesis.com> Message-ID: <6cf84d25-6e17-0532-07be-35b5b25f04b5(a)neurotica.com> Date: Mon, 22 May 2017 11:06:23 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <17052211014274_23607106(a)tmesis.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] obsolescence of a language, was Re: COBOL X-BeenThere: vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic.lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org/mailman/options/vcf-midatlantic>, <mailto:vcf-midatlantic-request@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <https://lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org/pipermail/vcf-midatlantic/> List-Post: <mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> List-Help: <mailto:vcf-midatlantic-request@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <https://lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org/mailman/listinfo/vcf-midatlantic>, <mailto:vcf-midatlantic-request@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org?subject=subscribe> From: Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Reply-To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Dave McGuire <mcguire(a)neurotica.com> Errors-To: vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org Sender: "vcf-midatlantic" <vcf-midatlantic-bounces(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: >On 05/22/2017 11:01 AM, Brian Schenkenberger via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> I'm not sure I'd even say that. While COBOL generally makes me want >>> to vomit, and that's a common position, that's not the point. >>> Organizations are using it for a reason: It's the right tool for their >>> job, based on whatever criteria they've set forth. I really don't think >>> it's up to any of us to assert that they're wrong. >>> >>> But apart from that, what would be the motivation for declaring its >>> obsolescence? I assume the big deal is age. So, what's the cutoff age >>> for modern vs. "obsolete", when it comes to a language? Note that I'm >>> not talking about implementations of the language, but the language >>> itself, as the COBOL compilers in common use today are current, modern, >>> maintained products. C++ is 35 years old, C is 45, Java is about 20 I >>> think. All have seen recent standardization activity, and all have seen >>> recent development in implementations. Just like COBOL. >>> >>> I don't think there's much that's necessarily "new" or "old" about a >>> language for representing and expressing data structures and algorithms, >>> in cases where the language specification has continued to evolve. Yes, >>> newer techniques (object-oriented programming) and newer habits (long >>> identifier names, use of lowercase characters, column independence) come >>> into being, but these languages continue to evolve to take advantage of >>> them. Modern COBOL implements those newer things, specifically, along >>> with many others. >> >> Object Oriented COBOL. <ducks!> > > Yup. Terrifying, isn't it? The last time I found programming that >distasteful, I was writing x86 assembler. Really, computer programming >just doesn't have to be that bad! Writing PDP-11 assembler, by >comparison, is like listening to a symphony. ;) People who have never touched PDP or VAX assembly don't know what they're missing. 8080/x86 assembly, bleachk! If that is they're introduction to assembly language programming, I can understand their typical disdain. Now, if C only had Macros. ;)

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] obsolescence of a language, was Re: COBOL
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 22 May '17

22 May '17

Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic writes: > > I'm not sure I'd even say that. While COBOL generally makes me want >to vomit, and that's a common position, that's not the point. >Organizations are using it for a reason: It's the right tool for their >job, based on whatever criteria they've set forth. I really don't think >it's up to any of us to assert that they're wrong. > > But apart from that, what would be the motivation for declaring its >obsolescence? I assume the big deal is age. So, what's the cutoff age >for modern vs. "obsolete", when it comes to a language? Note that I'm >not talking about implementations of the language, but the language >itself, as the COBOL compilers in common use today are current, modern, >maintained products. C++ is 35 years old, C is 45, Java is about 20 I >think. All have seen recent standardization activity, and all have seen >recent development in implementations. Just like COBOL. > > I don't think there's much that's necessarily "new" or "old" about a >language for representing and expressing data structures and algorithms, >in cases where the language specification has continued to evolve. Yes, >newer techniques (object-oriented programming) and newer habits (long >identifier names, use of lowercase characters, column independence) come >into being, but these languages continue to evolve to take advantage of >them. Modern COBOL implements those newer things, specifically, along >with many others. Object Oriented COBOL. <ducks!>

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Museum Report May 21, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 22 May '17

22 May '17

Steve Anderson was at the museum as docent today. About a dozen visitors spread out throughout the day. One of the visitors used to be a programmer of an IBM 360. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Museum report from yesterday
by Evan Koblentz 21 May '17

21 May '17

Extremely busy at the museum yesterday because of a veteran's event on campus. Constant stream of visitors from 11am to 6pm. We were supposed to close at 5 but I stayed because of all the people. Usual mixture of families/kids all the way to very technical people.

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Looking for a serial terminal
by Paul Rickards 21 May '17

21 May '17

Hi Folks, I'm interested in obtaining a RS-232 serial CRT terminal (mono, green or amber preferably). Something like a DEC VT or Wyse but brand not important. Contact me off-list. Cheers, -Paul Twitter: @paulrickards

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