iPhone 8 and 8 Plus first look

[NSquirrel]

Not mainframes as such, as it was all part of an engineering degree at a time when microprocessors could handle 4 bits a time or just possibly 8 bits. I think at the time FORTRAN was about the only engineering oriented programming language. Now there seem to be lots of programming languages, although Python seems to me to be the most popular and widespread.

I expect COBAL programmers are very rare and command high salaries maintaining legacy systems.

 

[scifan57]

Ah the joys of learning programming... As a student we had what I still consider a particularly nasty algorithm to write, even though it was only in BASIC or possibly FORTRAN and on a teletype terminal. We all managed it as someone spread the word around that the new computer section of the Science Museum had the algorithm as a demonstration piece of code. (The museum was next door and it must have had an extra hundred student visitors in the next few days.) -and then there were some who didn’t need to go to the museum.

I agree with you about memory, but the way the cost drops gets a bit frustrating if you look too hard. I think my recent purchase of a replacement laptop, with gb of ram and SSD, cost less than my first external 20 MB hard disc for my Mac Plus. Such is progress, and fascinating to observe.

I remember paying almost $100.00 for a 4K RAM chip in the late 70’s.

 

[NSquirrel]

4K and $100 were a lot then. I rewrote a BASIC word processor in machine code to fit a 4K eprom- and it fitted with ease. The settings file alone now probably takes more than 4K.

 

[HunnieBunnie]

4K and $100 were a lot then. I rewrote a BASIC word processor in machine code to fit a 4K eprom- and it fitted with ease. The settings file alone now probably takes more than 4K.

{{{THUD}}} That was me fainting! I think I would rather be executed than to have to write anything in machine code!! That is pure determination and dedication I could never muster for computers!