Posted on 05/23/2017 2:03:47 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
For the last 30 years, C has been my programming language of choice. As you probably know, C was invented in the early 1970s by Dennis M. Ritchie for the first UNIX kernel and ran on a DEC PDP-11 computer. I am probably a bit old-fashioned. Yes, C is outdated, but I’m simply addicted to it, like plenty of other embedded system programmers. For me, C is a low level but portable language that’s adequate for all my professional and personal projects --SNIP-- And after you’re finished with this review of 1970s-era computing technology, give one or two a try!
(Excerpt) Read more at circuitcellar.com ...
LOAD “*”,8,1
I believe that on the C-64, they were called “sprites” and there were eight of them.
Like today - one monitor for work, one to surf the net on...just kidding.
Old BAL. Base Displacement.
My favorite instructions were ICM SCM and later BALS.
‘C’ is used for embedded devices these days.
Hell everything has a program(s) behind it now.
I still like Python though.
And then there was the fun of tracking down a problem that was caused by a tiny bit of bare no. 30 wire lost in the forest of pins, or finding a wrap that looked perfect, but the wire had snapped.
Fun times!
I studied APL before applying for a job where it was used. I was kind of relieved not to get the job. I read somewhere that APL was difficult to write and impossible to maintain. It is so cryptic that it does a while to unravel what the original programmer was thinking. And then those weird keyboards....
The main benefit of APL is programmer job security until a company wisely chucks it!
Yes, PL-1 was kind of COBOL++.
Flon’s Law: There is not now, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code.
We got tape in one time many eons ago from an octal computer. Something like an old Honeywell.
We couldn’t read it for $hit. We figured out it was in Octal format so we had to manufacture a program to read the blocks, wrap and split all the words to EBCIDIC. Big fun.
Sorry for the confusion: the book is “The Go Programming Language” by Alan A. A. Donovan & Brian W. Kerrigan (2016 Addison-Wesley).
“21st Century C” is only a moniker someone has given to the language...
Yep, in C you had to do it yourself. I always got a kick out of interrupt, and writing to screen memory.
Trash 80. I did a couple things on that. It would lockup 20 times a day.
Knew a girl who did Databus.
This excellent post & the commentary (from programing old-timers) made me think that we could use something similar called “Vintage American Freedoms” before too many more old-timers go to ground temperature...
No, but you cannot argue with the execution time of assembly code.
My son works with RS-274 (G-code) and does some programming and modifications. It’s used to control CNC machines. He makes parts.
Just a bunch of command codes and numbers. Here’s a tiny program with comments:
O0001
G99 M42 (feed per rev, high gear if there is a gearbox on the machine)
T101 (tool #1, tool offset #1)
G50 S1500 (spindle speed limiting, this is very important for your safety!)
G96 S180 M3 (constant surface speed, 180m/min, or 180ft/min if you run your machine in imperial units, Spindle start CW)
G0 X105. Z0 M8 (rapid movement to position tool for facing, coolant on)
G1 X-1.6 F0.2 (facing the workpiece, X-1.6 instead of X0 to remove small nub which would be otherwise left on the center, F0.2 is feed 0.2mm/rev, or in/rev)
G0 X102. Z2. (rapid movement to position tool for roughing operation)
G71 U2. R0.2 (roughing cycle, U2 is radial depth of cut, R0.2 retraction amount)
G71 P1 Q2 U1. W0.1 F0.35 (roughing cycle, P1 and Q2 are start and end of desired shape, meaning it begins from N1 and ends to N2. U1. is amount of material left for G70 finishing cycle, this is a diametrical dimension. W0.1 is same for Z-axis. )
N1 G0 X19. (Start of the desired shape)
G1 G42 Z0.5 F0.18 (Cutter compensation on, approaching the face of workpiece)
X20. Z0
G3 X50. Z-15. R15. (Cutting an arc, these coordinates are the endpoint for arc. R15. means radius of the arc.)
G1 Z-25.
X99.
N2 G40 X102. (End of the desired shape)
G70 P1 Q2 (Finishing cycle, P1 and Q2 mean the same as in roughing cycle)
G0 X200. Z200. M9 (Rapiding the tool away from workpiece, coolant off)
M30 (End of program)
I did until some thieves broke into my shop and stole a few tool boxes. They got a number of tools that I will never be able to replace. But on the other hand some of them had not been used in many years.
But I would still treat the thieves brutally if I caught them.
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