happy anniversary

[Graham Samuel]

Congratulations Cal!

I'm maybe closer than the average member of this list, but not too  
close: I think I saw a digital computer in late 57 as an  
undergraduate in Manchester, UK. It would have been something to do  
with Professor Tom Kilburn in the Electrical Engineering department.  
As a mechanical engineer, I was occasionally allowed to go over and  
have a look. The sheer intellectual drive and sense of fun in that  
department set me thinking that I was pursuing the wrong course of  
study, and eventually I got into digital computers. I did 'program'  
an analog computer as a student but I didn't write a real program  
until 1961, so Cal wins hands down. I started with 5-track paper tape  
- punched cards came later.

Oddly enough I don't have much technical nostalgia for those days -  
it took soooo long to get anything done...

Graham

Cal Horner wrote:

> A Challenge to the list members.
>
> On June 14, 1957 I entered into my life long love affair with the  
> computer.
> Back then it wasn't called IT. It was simply DP. COBOL and Basic  
> didn't
> exist. Fortran was only a baby.
>
> My first computer was peg boards,  sorting machines and card  
> readers, and
> chain printers.
>
> If you calculate the years and days properly you will see it comes  
> to fifty
> years.
>
> My challenge is a simple one.
>
> Is there anyone on the list with more time in the profession than  
> me. Or am I the "Last Man Standing"?
>