HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: st1ca@menudo.uh.edu (Ronald Parker)
Subject: Re: Sig style
Organization: Society to disband societies. (Good thing I'm the only member!)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 05:30:08 GMT

In article <3WGEZ5F@taronga.com> peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>Jay.Ashworth@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jay Ashworth) writes about my .sig:
>>Delightful.  But you oughtta use a nicer font...

>What would you suggest? I wanted to stroke the quote in cooper black, but ran
>out of room. The wolf should probably be done in LucidaSans-Typewriter, but
>hardly anyone has that. Helvetica or Palatino? No? How about Hershey-Plain?
>-- 
>/F{findfont exch scalefont setfont}def /S{moveto show}def /T{/Times-Roman F}def
>6 T (Have you hugged your wolf today?)468 20 S 9 T (Taronga Park BBS)24 35 S 10
>/Courier F(`-_-')488 40 S ( 'U` )488 30 S 6 T (+1 713 568 0480 2400/n/8/1)24 27
>S (+1 713 568 1032 Trailblazer)24 20 S 12 T (Peter da Silva)24 45 S showpage

Need more room? How about changing the definition of F to
/F{exch selectfont}def instead?
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Parker, st1ca@menudo.uh.edu, st1ca@jetson.uh.edu, parkerr@nes.nersc.gov
What would be so wrong if Fred Rogers WAS running this country? --D. Letterman
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: taft@adobe.com (Ed Taft)
Subject: Re: Space Shuttle Computers
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 18:01:17 GMT

There was an interesting article about the development of the space shuttle
computer software in Communications of the ACM, September 1984. The article
was "Case Study: The Space Shuttle Primary Computer System", by D. Gifford
and A. Spector.
-- 
Ed Taft      taft@adobe.com      ...decwrl!adobe!taft
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:6177 alt.slack:1337 alt.exploding.kibo:129 alt.religion.kibology:1528 alt.stupidity:1430
From: klein@kira.egr.msu.edu (Jeffrey Klein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.slack,alt.exploding.kibo,alt.religion.kibology,alt.stupidity
Subject: Tra, la, la, la!
Date: 8 Apr 92 00:30:09 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University College of Stunt Piloting

In article <1992Apr7.153521.30688@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> ptgarvin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (PTed Garvin) writes:
>bur@ultisol.gsfc.nasa.gov (Mike Bur) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Apr4.060055.1963@news.Hawaii.Edu> rigler@cannon.ifa.hawaii.edu (Somme Mersault) writes:
>>>In article <1992Apr3.084118.3521@iscsvax.uni.edu> rubel0455@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>>>>In article <1992Apr2.231827.3520@iscsvax.uni.edu>, moore7004@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>>>>> In article <92093.160955U21187@uicvm.uic.edu>, U21187@uicvm.uic.edu (John Schulien) writes:
>>>>>> bur@ultisol.gsfc.nasa.gov (Mike Bur) says:
>>>>>>>reb@Ingres.COM (Phydeaux) writes:
>>>>>>>>zack@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Dr. Dave Zatz) writes:
>>>>>>>>>Am I the only one who finds these 'La La La' posts quite annonying?
>>>>>>>>No you are not the only one who finds these 'La La La' posts annoying!
>>>>>>>Yes! I too, find these 'La La La' posts annoying!!
>>>>>> I agree! Nothing could be more annoying then a 'La La La' posting!!!
>>>>> Why, that's a shame!  I couldn't enjoy a 'La La La' posting more!!!!
>>>>All I need is my Sepuka and my 'La La La's and I'm fine:)
>>>Although I wouldn't mind a 'Tra' with my 'La La La' once in awhile...
>>You sould try it with some 'Fra' and a glass of 'De Da' you'll love it!!!!
>You should try out some 'Fa's with the class of your 'La La La'.  Love it.
I'll try some of the `Qua` with a mass of `Simododo`.  The bells! The bells!

-- 
Jeff Klein                  | "One of you is a Charlie Brown mutant,
                            |  and the other has a hand growing out  
klein@kira.egr.msu.edu      |  of his(?) head!" - Blue Bunny
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: u8802356@cs.uow.edu.au (Elephant)
Subject: Re: chip-on-chip technology
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 23:16:04 GMT

marc@vieta.math.uni-sb.de (Marc Conrad) writes:

>peter@ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:

>>In article <1223@eouk15.abcl.co.uk> pcockere@abcl.co.uk (Pete Cockerell) writes:
>>> #define

>>> is pronounced `pound-define' (not `hash-define')

>>No, it's pronounced `number-define'. :->
>>

>Perhaps 'define sharp' ??           (   :-) )

how about tic-tac-toe define ???     ( ;-) )

Elephant
From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Why is a byte called a byte?
Date: 12 Apr 92 01:08:03 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1303900001:000:111
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!pic    Apr 10 17:09:00 1992

In <1303900001@igc.org> pic@igc.org wrote:
> Can anyone out there tell me why a byte is called a byte?  Who
> came up with the term?  When was it first used?

From the Jargon File, aka _The_New_Hacker's_Dictionary_:

:byte: /bi:t/ [techspeak] n. A unit of memory or data equal to
   the amount used to represent one character; on modern architectures
   this is usually 8~bits, but may be~9 on 36-bit machines.  Some
   older architectures used `byte' for quantities of 6 or 7 bits, and
   the PDP-10 supported `bytes' that were actually bitfields of
   1 to 36 bits!  These usages are now obsolete, and even 9-bit bytes
   have become rare in the general trend toward power-of-2 word sizes.

   Historical note: The term originated in 1956 during the early
   design phase for the IBM Stretch computer; originally it was
   described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the period
   used 6-bit chunks of information).  The move to an 8-bit byte
   happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and
   promulgated as a standard by the System/360.  The term `byte' was
   coined by mutating the word `bite' so it would not be accidentally
   misspelled as `bit'.  See also {nybble}. @refill
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond = eric@snark.thyrsus.com  (mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)
From: phaedrus@unkaphaed.UUCP (James Hartman, Sysop)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been in hack mode too long when...
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 15:31:31 GMT
Organization: Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy

callum@bain3.bain.oz.au (Callum Gibson) writes:

> One that happened to me:  I was reading a page of text (on paper) and when I'
> finished the page pressed the spacebar...

This happened to me - while watching TV, I keep trying to press CTL-S so I can
get up and get a snack.  Guess that's why VCRs were invented...  ;)

--
phaedrus@unkaphaed.UUCP (James Hartman, Sysop)
Unka Phaed's UUCP Thingy, (713) 943-2728
1200/2400/9600/14400 v.32bis/v.42bis
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:6257 rec.arts.sf.written:5656 comp.unix.sysv386:8463
From: 01ksdavis@bsu-ucs.uucp
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been in hack mode
Date: 17 Apr 92 04:37:17 GMT


	Let's see, you know you've been programming to long:

	If computers, Reaganomics, or the US Government actually make sense!

	If you begin all of your questions with "INPUT. . . ."

	If you begin to think in nested IF-THEN-ELSE clauses that would make a
	bureacrat get lost.

	Your friends who aren't hackers wonder what happened to you.

	Even Juan Valdez couldn't support your drastic need for yet another cup
	of coffee!:-)

	Although your monitor is fine, your brain keeps hallucinating random 
	"system error: collision with stack heap" or "Guru Meditation Mode #
	Three billion and fifty-two, press left button to continue" or even
	"This is not a DOS disk." error messages.

	The computer asks for you to satisfy it (s*xually) by disk flipping 
	in the only disk drive that is working.

	you get a thank-you note from the local power company, along with a 
	co-signer form for next month's bill!

	Just when you fisished writing the be-all-end-all program for your 
	computer (has everything-AI, MIDI, productivity stuff, excellent games,
	desktop video, etc.) the entire computer industry upgrades to the 
	"next best chip."  :-)

	You mourn the death of GOTO, spaghetti programming, more than your dead
	fish.

	Your complexion has turned pale from being constantly irradiated by the
	monitor.

	You cringe like a vampire in the open, unexposed sun.

		Kyle
From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Computers for Apollo project
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:53:37 GMT
Reply-To: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Organization: University of Arizona

In article <1992Apr14.163322.24004@cs.cornell.edu>, chapman@cs (Richard Chapman) writes:
>Ob. General Whine: I wish the PBS series weren't quite so dumbed-down,
>maybe more after the pattern of the show "The Secret Life of Machines"
>which shows in the USA on the Discovery channel. Maybe I'm just wishing 
>the show were 50 hours long instead of five. 

I agree completely.  The first part was OK, but it seemed like the second
part just whizzed by the 50's 60's & most of the 70's (since they're going
to talk about Jobs & Wozniak next time).  (Ya know, Apple's gotta be loving
this show -- seems like every time they want to show a `modern machine', they
show a Mac...)

I guess the real problem is that the show concentrates on the social impact of
computers, and I want to see a more historical focus.  Oh, well.

-- 
Dave Schaumann		dave@cs.arizona.edu

!erutangis ruoy otni suriv erutangis siht ypoc ot nevird ylsuoicsnocbus era uoY
From: azog@thoth.rent.com (Billy D'Augustine)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Why Grey? Are computer unhappy objects?
Date: 11 Apr 92 04:32:24 GMT
Organization: Cranial Construction Corp

You know, Ive been following this thread for some time now, but so far
I havent seen a explanation as to _why_ computers are mostly grey?

-- 
Billy D'Augustine                | "Wish I had some goddamned milk!
...rutgers!bobsbox!thoth!azog    | "Cheerieos just aint the same!"
azog@thoth.rent.com              | - Stormtroopers of Death (SOD)
From: person@plains.NoDak.edu (Brett G Person )
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Those wackhy K&R guys
Date: 11 Apr 92 10:02:32 GMT
Organization: Ye Olde Computer Store


This is probably whaqt started the whole thread, but I'll post it anyway. 

Many years ago, when I was just starting out in CS, I took a class
where  I was rudely ittroduced to the concept of recursion by the
instructor who said " write a recursive shell-script"    

Most of us had no idea what he wanted done.  We looked in the back of
Kerninghan and Pike ( the calss text)  and found that recursion was
discussed on some page in the high hundreds.  Yeah, the page number
reference was the same page I was looking at in the index!  

I think the text is _the unix programming environment_
-- 
Brett G. Person
North Dakota State University
uunet!plains!person | person@plains.bitnet | person@plains.nodak.edu
If I have a chip on my shoulder, I sure hope it isn't a damned Intel
From: smith@sctc.com (Rick Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Writing Comments (was: CS Hackers?)
Date: 8 Apr 92 14:15:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: sctc.1992Apr8.141552.16458
Organization: SCTC

> zrepachol@cc.curtin.edu.au writes:

>>label.. code.. args.. comment char.. short comment on what we are doing
>>
>>Even C programmers seem unable to resist filling in the right hand side.

And lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>My personal style is to use blocks of comments in front of the section
>of code revealing any specific stuff to the whole routine, ...

I'd have to agree that it was hard to find a comfortable commenting
style when I started working with modern high level languages.
The graphical style in HLLs, especially the Algol format derivatives
like C and Pascal have a completely different appearance from asm.

Ultimately I accepted that righthand side comments were the wrong thing
in a block structured language and went for block structured comments
somewhat like what cjl refers to above. Except that I don't just put a
block at the beginning of the procedure.

Most people these days are taught to write in block structured
languages by indenting code to reflect control flow. Comments are then
associated with the level of indentation. A particular comment
indicates the intentions of the block of statements immediately
following it at or below its own indentation level.  At least that's
how I do it. I found that if you're lucky enough to be writing code on
a personal computer that supports a decent outlining text editor
(More, even ThinkTank) then this style is very natural and yields
comfortably structured bits of code.

Rick.
smith@sctc.com           arden hills, minnesota
From: marques@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: "Open Systems"
Date: 16 Apr 92 21:27:48 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Library Automation Team

In article <1992Apr14.024644.17574@thoth.rent.com>, azog@thoth.rent.com (Billy D'Augustine) writes:
> madd@world.std.com (Bob Nagle) writes:
> 
>>>to the best of my knowledge, IBM still sells dos.  dos/vse was the
>>>last version I used.  this is the only operating system on a mainframe
>>>computer that makes ms-dos look fancy.  
> 
>>IBM does still sell it.  I'm not sure I'd call it the only mainframe
>>OS that makes MS-DOS look fancy -- MS-DOS has better filesystem
>>support than most mainframe OS's.
> 
> I kinda like DOS/VSE, as much as one can actually like the brain
> dead OSs of IBM dinosaurs (yes, I even consider our 6 month old
> ES/9121 a dinosaur).
> 
> I has a nifty file naming system:
> 
> library.sublibrary.(sublibrary)
> 
> (Im not too sure about that last element)
> 
> heres a relitivly straight forward example:
> 
> tctrans.delete 
> 
> You may not consider that straight forward, but like everything else,
> file name conventions are site specific. In this case, this is the
> JCL (arrgh!) to delete the Tax Collection Transaction file. 
> 
>>Happy hacking,
> 
>>jim frost
>>madd@world.std.com
> -- 
> Billy D'Augustine                | "Wish I had some goddamned milk!
> ...rutgers!bobsbox!thoth!azog    | "Cheerieos just aint the same!"
> azog@thoth.rent.com              | - Stormtroopers of Death (SOD)

Your thinking about the librarian.  You specify the library using the form
library.sublibrary you can then process members using a name.type from. 
For example if I wanted to delete the member TEST.PHASE from the library
USER.PROGRAMS I would code the following:

<Power stuff deleted>
// JOB DELETE (ARGHH1,ECHO=YES)
// EXEC LIBR
ACCESS SUBLIB=USER.PROGRAMS
DELETE TEST.PHASE
/*
<end of job stuff deleted>

The real VSE file system (if you can say that VSE actually has a file system)
is SAM (Sequential Access Methods).  To define one of these files you have
to specify exactly where it is to be stored on the disk (ie. disk block if FBA
or cylinder/track if CKD).  SAM files have to defined in JCL and have a name
of the form 8.8.8.8.  I really hate SAM but I still have to use it for
feeding the output from one job step to the input of another (a very primitive
form of pipe the JCL for which is very nasty).
-- 
Jose Marques, Systems Programmer
 %INCLUDE STDDIS; /* Standard Disclaimer */
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: Hackers too boring for dates. DOCUMENTED!
Keywords: hackers  dates  Moody  geeks  nerds
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 17:23:42 GMT

rmeadows@coplex.com (Richard Meadows) writes:

>I now have written published evidence(?) of discrimination against us nerds 
>hackers or geeks as the case may be.  In the SUN, Vol.10 - No. 13, March 
>31, 1992, p. 15, bottom left:

>              COMPUTER HACKERS NIXED FOR BEING BORING DATES

>     A DATING AGENCY won't play Cupid for computer hackers - because 
>    they're too boring!
>    "They're good at their jobs but the can't mix with other people," 
>    says Beth Moody, who runs a video dating service in suburban 
>    Chicago.
>     "They're just a waste of time. I don't care if it's a male or 
>    female computer hacker who wants to sign up.  I don't want them 
>    because they have no personality and they hurt my business.
>     "It's pathetic. Some of these poor guys can't even talk to a 
>    camera, let alone a woman. I've had people quit the club after 
>    viewing the tapes.
>     "That's when I made the no-hacker rule. I'm looking for exciting 
>    singles who want to make a love connection - not a nerd who can 
>    only talk about the latest computer software."
>     Some hackers are striking back at Beth's claims.
>     "So maybe we're not so romantic, but we're just as interesting as 
>    anybody else," say computer whiz Donald Jessen, 28. "We just talk 
>    about things like new programs or imputting data instead of what 
>    football team is going to win the World Series.
>     "What's the point of having a video dating service if you can't 
>    talk about the things you like? We shouldn't be punished for 
>    having brains."

>This is EXACTLY the way it was written/printed in the SUN.  I did not 
>change delete or add anything.

>Well now it is obvious good old Beth sure doesn't know any of us or that 
>none of us have used her dating service.  Of course I was about half way 
>convinced the story might have a shred of truth in it till I came to the 
>statement about ..."football team is going to win the World Series."  Too 
>pat.  
-- 
It's been lovely, but I have to scream now.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 01:48:52 -0400 
From: "Joseph M. Newcomer" <jn11+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Litton

>Maybe the dead/dying phrase is deadly accurate.  I've never heard of Litton
>making a computer before or since.  And who is/was Freiden?

Back in those days, EVERYONE made computers.  Tire companies made computers
(or at least, so I've been told...).  I used to comment in later years that
Litton computers would also heat a meal in 3 minutes; the problem was that
until they could get them smaller than the entire kitchen the weren't very
effective or marketable...
                                    joe
From: donald@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Donald A Bachman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Slashed o's (o's, not zeros)?
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:52:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK


	I learned slashed 0 as zero (actually, it was a habbit I picked
up from a friend), and have used it ever since. Imagine my annoyance when
at an accounting job at Tinker AFB (OK), we had to send coding sheets (!!)
to key-punch (!!!!) and the convention was to slash the Ohs. You won't believe
the number of lines of input that I had to correct after discovering a couple
of months later what their convention was (and then I still had to overcome the
habbit).



-- 




===============================================================================
|           Lisp is the one true language, and Emacs is its prophet!          |
===============================================================================
|Donald A. Bachman|donald@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu|dabachma@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu|
===============================================================================
--
From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: "The Machine That Changed the World" on PBS
Date: 7 Apr 92 16:25:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: organpip.1992Apr7.162503.13932
Reply-To: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Organization: University of Arizona

Just thought I'd pass along that PBS is showing a 5-part series called
"The Machine that Changed the World", about computers.  I saw the first
part last night - started off with Babbage's difference engine, and
worked up through ENIAC, and other early machines.

-- 
What signature?
From: christo@bcarh803.BNR.CA (Mark Christopher)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: CP-6?
Date: 5 Apr 92 17:38:03 GMT
Reply-To: christo@bnr.ca
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

In article <1992Apr4.194808.25369@cs.tulane.edu>, pierce@navo.navy.mil
(Jim M. Pierce) writes:
|>In article <1992Apr2.150715.3425@agora.uucp>, jdm@agora.uucp (Jesse
Michael) writes:
|>|> I was just told that I would be useing a CP-6 (?) in one of my
computer classes
...
|>   Ah yes, the CP-6. It was built by Honeywell. It is now a Bull CP-6 as
|> Honeywell gave up on the computer end and gave it all to their
|> subsidiary Bull. It has an editor called IBEX that, IMHO, is even worse
|> than 'vi'. The operating system is case-sensitive on filenames. Its full
|> name is Honeywell/Bull DPS90 CP-6. We have one at the local University

And the ancestor was Honeywell CP-V, formerly XDS (Xerox Data Systems).
Back in the hazy undergrad days, I used a Sigma 9 running CP-V.  The
filenames were of the format:  <filename>[.[<account>]][.<passwd>].
So a file: 'myfile..passwd' referred to your own file 'myfile' with
the password 'passwd'.  When you logged in, if you had a file called
MAILBOX, CP-V would print "Check DC/MAILBOX".  (This is important for
the next story.)

At this particular university, I knew a "friend" who could trivially
access the Registrar's accounts, through not exactly legitimate means.
His fun only involved renaming files to have two trailing periods and
leaving a message in MAILBOX saying "Don't forget the file passwords".
Of course, the periods were not legal in filenames themselves, so they
could not access the files unless they could rename them.  Of course,
the registrar's DP staff didn't know how to do this and ended up always
recovering the files from tape...

My first introduction to CP-V was via cards and batch.  We used Siggy
(as the Sigma 9 was called) for FLAG - a FORTRAN Load And Go.  I had
umm, investigated the batch system we used, and discovered the smallest
partition that was available for batch was 20K.  Since the jobs
were ordered shortest job first, by changing my limit jcl card to:
	!LIMIT (CO,19)
my job would always run ahead of all the other students, who were told
to use !LIMIT (CO,20)  (limit of core is 20K).  My job always ran in
the 20K partition anyway, since that was the smallest partition.

-- 
Mark Christopher                                christo@bnr.ca
Bell-Northern Research                  ..!uunet!bnrgate!bcarh803!christo
     Just adding my thoughts.  There, now my brain is empty again.