Many years ago, I managed an IBM S/34 shop at the former day job. Eight or Nine dumb terminals and three or four printers. About the same processing power as a cheap video card today…. But a real screamer in the mid-80’s….
Anyway, our Plant Manager’s secretary got a terminal (and printer), and dove into her paperwork. She complained to the Plant Manager about it being a little slow, who looked at the screen for a second, and then said “It’s in a loop”, and powered down the terminal.
(It took another half-hour or so to re-activate the terminal, and at least another hour to reload her files from "last night’s’ backup….)
It’s nearly impossible to accidentally get into a loop with the S/34’s RPGII, and nearly impossible to NOT damage something when you power off a locally attached terminal.
Now, if the guy’d dialed “22” on any phone in the building, I’d have told him not to touch the damn thing. Umpty-ump years later, he’s managing a bunch of PC’s at his own company. Very carefully….
When my husband came back from his first day at his new job as a programmer with GE in 1964 he was thrilled….he was getting to work on their newest, biggest mainframe. It had 16K of memory!
Zach may not be stuck in an infinite loop but he is tangling with an android and an angry aid in this weeks Raven Haired Rogue. Help him decide what to do next.
Allegedly, the benchmark for the speed of the latest supercomputer, whatever it is and whoever makes it, is how many microseconds it takes to execute an infinite loop.
SMMAssociates over 9 years ago
Many years ago, I managed an IBM S/34 shop at the former day job. Eight or Nine dumb terminals and three or four printers. About the same processing power as a cheap video card today…. But a real screamer in the mid-80’s….
Anyway, our Plant Manager’s secretary got a terminal (and printer), and dove into her paperwork. She complained to the Plant Manager about it being a little slow, who looked at the screen for a second, and then said “It’s in a loop”, and powered down the terminal.
(It took another half-hour or so to re-activate the terminal, and at least another hour to reload her files from "last night’s’ backup….)
It’s nearly impossible to accidentally get into a loop with the S/34’s RPGII, and nearly impossible to NOT damage something when you power off a locally attached terminal.
Now, if the guy’d dialed “22” on any phone in the building, I’d have told him not to touch the damn thing. Umpty-ump years later, he’s managing a bunch of PC’s at his own company. Very carefully….
sbwertz over 9 years ago
When my husband came back from his first day at his new job as a programmer with GE in 1964 he was thrilled….he was getting to work on their newest, biggest mainframe. It had 16K of memory!
johnzakour Premium Member over 9 years ago
Zach may not be stuck in an infinite loop but he is tangling with an android and an angry aid in this weeks Raven Haired Rogue. Help him decide what to do next.
tstuarta1 over 9 years ago
Maybe its a good thing that Melvin is stuck in a loop. Now he’ll stop bothering the women in the office.
johnzakour Premium Member over 9 years ago
No he does not but he has dealt with infinite loops before.
K M over 9 years ago
Allegedly, the benchmark for the speed of the latest supercomputer, whatever it is and whoever makes it, is how many microseconds it takes to execute an infinite loop.
NWdryad over 9 years ago
Never heard the term “about as useful as a wax frying pan” before, but it’s a keeper!
Dragoncat over 9 years ago
A small price to pay to ensure the women can work in peace.
charliefarmrhere over 9 years ago
@Thomas Scott Roberts—-I too like your “wax frying pan”! That is a clever keeper & I am going to use it in the future.
Thomas Scott Roberts creator over 9 years ago
Haven’t actually. I’m behind on my viewing.