Back in 1960 I took a course from a Dr. Andre at the University of Oklahoma
and learned all about the "new math". We placed the words "yes" and "no" on
the corners of a square of cardboard and rotated, translated, revolved, etc.
the cardboard. Does this count as a computer? If so, I may have won the
contest for "Most Primitive Computer User". In 1970 Radio Shack sold a four
function, six digit, no decimal Heathkit calculator for about $200 if I
remember correctly. It was about the size of a box of bank checks. By 1975
gas stations were giving away eight digit, six decimal, six function
calculators the size of a business card with a fillup. I had a three hour
commute to college while learning to use an IBM 360, and sometimes I would
sleep in the punch card room rather than go home and come back to chase down
the errors. The ink on the ribbons always wore out just before I sat down
to the machine, and I had to read the actual holes rather than the typing
across the top. The "O" and the "0" always did me in. I always enjoyed
watching the printer spit out paper when the "page break" got put into a
loop. Great streams of pin drive paper arching toward the ceiling, and
frantic workers rushing to shut the printer off.
Leisure Suit Terry
|