8 Apr
2001
8 Apr
'01
5:45 a.m.
Quoting Sellam Ismail <foo(a)siconic.com>om>:
On Sat, 7 Apr 2001, Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
:-) Yes, it's a little different for us, and yes, we must respect our
elders. Did I not just give my elders the title "guru"?
It depends on your definition of 'kid'.
I'm 22, but I am probably
near the young end of the distribution as well. The fact that we're
young, however, does not make us any less deserving of the pleasure of
exploring the history of computing through classic computers.
Granted, we might know less than the older gurus here, but we are just
as important. Lack of knowledge is a temporary obstacle; even the
gurus were neophytes once. If the traditions, folklore, and spirit of
computing in ages past are to survive, then at some point the flag
must be passed to the next generation.
Nope, we intend to keep everything from you young whipper-snappers.
Your first history lesson is to understand that computers used to sit
behind big panes of glass, accessible only to the priesthood that
maintained them. You communed with them only through a small hole
where you passed your punched cards and got your results back (usually
just error messages).
So too it is with computer history. You can only have access to the
knowledge we pass to you through the little hole in the window. Do not
try to subvert our authority or we will find it fit to smite thee. And let's just get one thing straight, you were
either born to compute
or you ended up being some post-degree market-molded wannabee nerd who
couldn't get a job in your chosen profession and just jumped on the
bandwagon during the great Internet bubble economy of the late 1990s and
"became" a programmer.
Well, I was most definitely born that way. Computing runs through my
blood; programming is my religion. I absolutely detest the wannabees of
which you speak, those to whom it is just another good-paying job. Those
types are quite numerous at college, and I make every possible attempt to
treat them as a lower class. It's easy to spot them when they say things
like "Man, this programming assignment will be tough. I haven't had to
write anything since two semesters ago. Maybe I should change my major
back to business. And that stupid <professor>, why does he grade so hard?
I failed his <some-class-I-made-an-A-in> because he grades too hard."
--
Jeffrey S. Sharp
jss(a)ou.edu