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My high school had an HP system that had 4K of donut RAM. Also had a display (single line of LED characters, 40 max), optical card reader, thermal paper printer and a plotter.
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I've got two blocks of core sitting on my desktop (the physical one), the biggest one holding 1152 bits. Junior programmers are fascinated when I invite them to inspect my core dump 
In a 1978 summer job, the last summer before I started my studies, we were working on a mix of core and semiconductor RAM based machines. The group leader insisted that semiconductor RAM would be a short-lived fad - machines that loose their memory contents when power is turned off will never be satisfactory for the typical computer user. Software for these machines were distributed on 8 track punched tape from paper, aluminized mylar (keep your fingertips away from its edges when it runs!) or a fiber-enforced plastic material resembling those paper-looking but super-strong envelopes - I do not recall what that material was called, but no man could tear it, you needed a cutter / scissors.
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I was late to the party but the place I worked had memory core boards for DEC systems as spares. I've held one in my hand and marveled at the struggles the ancients must have had when we advanced race of nerds had TI4464 64k x 4 chips at our disposal. And used those high and mighty 74ls181 ALUs to crunch what was stored there.
Now even that "sophisticated" stuff is a riot. 
I like to take walks down memory lane on ebay. They still want more that they should for some of it.
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In college I took a class that used PDP-11/05's running RT-11. The bootstrap code was stored in about 80 words out of a 128 word core memory. Student code routinely ran wild and wrote over the bootstrap code. The bootstrap could be re-entered using the front panel switches on the machine. I had to do it once  .
There was one guy who had to do it so often, he could re-enter the 80-word bootstrap in just under 60 seconds. 
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: Student code routinely ran wild and wrote over the bootstrap code.
One college text book, in a discussion of protection mechanism in hardware memory management systems told of of a machine with limited protection. Forgetting to initialize indexing variables, one student inadvertently sorted the machine monitor.
One of my fellow students dryly remarked: They had the same tings done, just in a somewhat different order, didn't they?
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I always remember someone who brings donuts.
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Yes, in fact in the computer junk store in Palo Alto, when I was 20 or so (39 years ago) I found a large magnetic core "board". Bought it but never did anything with it. Not sure where it disappeared to over the years.
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Yeah, and the code for the system that used it was on paper tape.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
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IBM System/3 Model 6 in 1972. I peaked inside and saw the donuts. I was merely the operator/key puncher while in school. It was programmed by another in RPG. - Cheerio
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I do.
My first computer was an IBM 1620.
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I’m a 60 year old coder. I’ve been doing it since I was 20. I always knew I loved it, but I just realized I truly do it for the get-up-and-walk-around moment. That’s the moment when you fix a sneaky bug, or complete a demanding or tricky task/algorithm/approach. It’s so satisfying, that you can’t simply move on to the next thing. You have to get up and walk around to bask in the satisfaction.
I’m chasing a get up and walk around worthy bug in a bit of embedded C++ at the moment. It’s a timer fringe case, or a variable the should be volatile, and it’s not. I’ll get it, and I’ll certainly need to get-up-and-walk-around once it’s dead.
Has anyone else recognized the need to get-up-and-walk-around after a truly satisfying coding moment? Do you have other victory rituals?
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I hadn't noticed it but yeah I do get up and walk around after a big sign of relief.
The thing about C/C++ is you can shoot yourself in the foot and the problem is so subtle that it takes special skills and a lot of cursing to find and fix.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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I did find this mornings beast. It was such a shot to the foot, that I'm not sure I deserve a get-up moment.
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Congrats, always satisfying.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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You don't get up and walk around after you shot yourself in the foot. Please be consistent! 
Mircea
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Just the kind of inconsistency that caused me to shoot myself in the foot, in the first place.
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Never done it while coding, but a semicircular trot towards the net and back is a common follow-through after hitting a winner on the tennis court.
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Yes - it does have the automatic feel of the circular trot.
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Absolutely  a bit like how a deer shakes after having escaped danger the walk around gets the adrenalin out of the system.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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GuyThiebaut wrote: a deer shakes after having escaped danger the walk around gets the adrenalin out of the system
I see the same thing in my greyhound. After he's run zoomies for a couple of minutes, he walks around shaking and blowing for a while. Even at almost ten years old, he can still get up to around 25 mph (racers at their peak can do 40+ mph).
Software Zen: delete this;
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On the highway, I have seen Grehounds at 55 and 60 mph
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Of course, I'm talking about the dog, 2nd fastest land animal on Earth (1st is the cheetah). They can accelerate from a standstill to 40 mph in six strides.
Retired racers make great pets; "world's fastest couch potato" is a common description .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Obviously!
0 to 40mph in six strides, that is something. Did you ever calculate the acceleration in terms of g load? And also, how much kinetic energy does he gain in those six strides, in how short time - or in other words, how many watts of effect does he produce to do that acceleration?
Animals can display some amazing capabilities, and if you sit down and do the math, it sometimes goes from amazing to truly unbelievable.
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trønderen wrote: Did you ever calculate the acceleration in terms of g load?
No, but he develops considerable momentum (he weighs around 75 pounds). When we first got him it took a while to find a fencing contractor, so we put him outside on a steel cable attached to a tree to use the bathroom. We bought a collar that included plastic hardware, but was guaranteed for large dogs - 100 pounds and up. One day he caught sight of a cat, took off running, reached the end of the cable, and did not stop. The collar hardware shattered and off he went. Fortunately I was watching and chased off after him. The good news was he still needed to pee and when he stopped to do that I caught up to him.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: One day he caught sight of a cat, took off running, reached the end of the cable, and did not stop.
We may be sidetracking quite a bit here, but ...
My dogs, several years ago, were great teddy bears, but not exactly greyhounds ... They were St.Bernhards, 75-80 kg (and at that time, that was lightweight, for a St.Bernhard!). My first dog of course couldn't follow a cat making twists and turns, but he could get into speed down a straight street.
He did, getting into considerable speed. The cat jumped into a lawn, and he followed. The lawn had an area protected by a dense fir hedgerow. The cat flew under it. My 80 St.Bernhard tried to do the same. The earth shook. It is a great wonder none of the the hedge firs were pulled up by the root.
Anyone claiming that animals have no feelings, can feel no shame, have never seen my dog that day. His tail was so tightly pressed against his belly that the tip almost reached his mouth. He refused to look me in the eye for at least an hour or two, searching for corners where he could hide.
I guess our laughs (we did laugh!) didn't improve matters. But after all, we were his pack, so he gradually realized that our comforting strokes were honest signs of unity and support, and he relaxed.
I believe that this episode was essential to strengthen the bonds between him and us as a pack. OK, so we did laugh when it happened, but he showed his feelings to us, and we clearly signaled: Yet you are one of us! We are still accepting you, we will comfort you. Straighten up, you are a good boy!
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