Posted on 07/16/2019 10:04:37 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
It was poetry in the enigmatic commands of machine language.
“They had to gamble that the kids would rise to the occasion,” says Mr. Eyles. “We were brought into a sort of loose managerial situation and allowed to thrive.”
There was an art to finding people like Mr. Eyles who could turn engineering equations into code for a journey to another world, says Dan Lickly, 86, who oversaw the computer software development.
“You can’t get a degree in how to fly to the moon,” ... ...“You had to get people who know how to think, who are creative and alert. It was all invented on the spot.”
The power of code was intoxicating. Spaceflight engineers discovered they could use it to perform tasks that otherwise required rods, cables and actuators. Code was cheaper, more adaptable and, most important, weightless.
The Apollo computer eventually required about 145,000 lines of code in all, compared with about 62 million lines of code required today to operate Facebook and more than two billion lines of code for Google.
...There, whimsy crept in. He labeled the ignition sequence “BURN_BABY_BURN.” When the computer wanted to reposition the landing-radar antenna, the code noted: “ASTRONAUT PLEASE CRANK THE SILLY THING AROUND.”
The code itself perhaps best sums up the wonders it hastened.
As billows of lunar dust settled around the lander 50 years ago, its onboard computer ticked through the instructions in its P68 lunar landing confirmation routine. Embedded in the final lines, where no outsider was ever likely to see it, the software said: “ASTRONAUT: NOW LOOK WHERE YOU ENDED UP.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I understand very little about the inner workings of computers. With the advent of GUI and the internet, I promptly forgot even what little I had learned about DOS and command-line interfacing.
But in recent years it has seemed to me that the software we used in the early days of personal computing was much more intuitive, thoughtful, user-friendly; sometimes ingenious, especially to someone like me. Even I have noticed things in some more recent programs that seemed really stupid - like a mistake that should have been caught by....someone... in the earliest testing phase.
Companies used to invest in having Usability experts aid in software design, that pretty much went by the wayside.
I’m wondering (fearing) that we’re also just degenerating in terms of personal creativity. It seems to be the case in so many areas.
*ping*
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. Good thing Hillary wasn't around back then.
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