Re: Ten thousand TRS 80s...
This is an off-topic nostalgia/banter thread rather than a technical problem. Starting from reminiscences about 1970s COBOL work on ICL 1900-series machines, paper tape and punched cards, Neil Truby raises a semi-serious point: hardly any young people are appearing in the Informix community, and candidates he interviews are rarely under 40. Replies are mostly jokes (abacus, "analog", who used the oldest hardware), though Paul Watson counters that attendees on a recent IDS course were in their late 20s/early 30s. No technical issue and no resolution.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
"Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... >> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a Friday - >> how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the tender age of 20, >> programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running George 3 - >> http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system in the world'), >> with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can still remember some of >> the key combinations for the manual key punch. There's actually a serious point here. Where are all the young people posting? There is so little new blood in Informix. I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair Lifts ;-) (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!).
Neil Truby wrote: > "Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message > news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... > >>> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a >>> Friday - how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the tender >>> age of 20, programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running George 3 - >>> http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system in the >>> world'), with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can still >>> remember some of the key combinations for the manual key punch. > > There's actually a serious point here. > Where are all the young people posting? > There is so little new blood in Informix. > I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. > The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair > Lifts ;-) > > (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!). Well - I remember when I learned to use my first computing device. It was a wonderful invention which we imported from the orient. It had 10 bars and some wooden beads on each bar that we would slide from one side from the other. ;-)
Neil Truby wrote: > "Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message > news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... > >>> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a >>> Friday - how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the tender >>> age of 20, programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running George 3 - >>> http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system in the >>> world'), with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can still >>> remember some of the key combinations for the manual key punch. > > There's actually a serious point here. > Where are all the young people posting? > There is so little new blood in Informix. > I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. > The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair > Lifts ;-) > > (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!). Ran an IDS course recently, all were in the their late 20s, early 30s 1906 ??? I knew you were old but ..... Cheers Paul
Madison Pruet wrote: > Neil Truby wrote: >> "Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message >> news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... >> >>>> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a >>>> Friday - how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the >>>> tender age of 20, programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running >>>> George 3 - http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system >>>> in the world'), with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can >>>> still remember some of the key combinations for the manual key punch. >> >> There's actually a serious point here. >> Where are all the young people posting? >> There is so little new blood in Informix. >> I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. >> The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair >> Lifts ;-) >> >> (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!). > > Well - I remember when I learned to use my first computing device. It > was a wonderful invention which we imported from the orient. It had 10 > bars and some wooden beads on each bar that we would slide from one side > from the other. ;-) Ooooh, analog . . . . JWC
Madison Pruet wrote: > Neil Truby wrote: >> "Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message >> news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... >> >>>> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a >>>> Friday - how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the >>>> tender age of 20, programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running >>>> George 3 - http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system >>>> in the world'), with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can >>>> still remember some of the key combinations for the manual key punch. >> >> There's actually a serious point here. >> Where are all the young people posting? >> There is so little new blood in Informix. >> I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. >> The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair >> Lifts ;-) >> >> (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!). > > Well - I remember when I learned to use my first computing device. It > was a wonderful invention which we imported from the orient. It had 10 > bars and some wooden beads on each bar that we would slide from one side > from the other. ;-) Ooooh, analog . . . . JWC
Neil Truby wrote: > "Glyn Balmer" <glynbo@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message > news:mailman.1699.1220709583.20610.informix-list@iiug.org... > >>> I wasn't far behind you, Ian, starting on 11 June 1976 (it was a >>> Friday - how sad that I remember the date and the day!) at the tender >>> age of 20, programming in COBOL on an ICL 1904S running George 3 - >>> http://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/ ('the best operating system in the >>> world'), with paper tape and punched cards. Sadly, I can still >>> remember some of the key combinations for the manual key punch. > > There's actually a serious point here. > Where are all the young people posting? > There is so little new blood in Informix. > I never interview anyone under 40. Often not 50. > The recent IIUG Conference could have been sponsored by Stannah Stair > Lifts ;-) > > (I started on an ICL 1906 - so mine's bigger than yours!). I had *Marathon* serial number 33 before it became Informix so I bet mine's older than yours! -- Ian Hotmail is for spammers. Real mail address is igoddard at nildram co uk