I'd Rather Whine than Switch

[DisneyMom]

HA! I remember teaching a basic computer class to new employees. the idea was to give them enough knowledge that they could know what kind of information was available to them.

I always started out by asking for a show of hands, on who was a computer expert. As you might imagine, almost everyone's hand goes up.

I start by showing them a simple binary number, and how it is translated into hexadecimal, then how hex is used in various files and programs, headers etc. pretty basic stuff.

during one class, a newly hired female asked me why "they" didn't just use the alphabet like the rest of the world. (head slap!!)

umm, because digital devices only "know" on and off, zero or one.

she held up her phone, "thats not true, my phone understands me texting and my voice."

(Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!)

So did I pass?

[hobie16]

HA! I remember teaching a basic computer class to new employees. the idea was to give them enough knowledge that they could know what kind of information was available to them.

I always started out by asking for a show of hands, on who was a computer expert. As you might imagine, almost everyone's hand goes up.

I start by showing them a simple binary number, and how it is translated into hexadecimal, then how hex is used in various files and programs, headers etc. pretty basic stuff.

during one class, a newly hired female asked me why "they" didn't just use the alphabet like the rest of the world. (head slap!!)

umm, because digital devices only "know" on and off, zero or one.

she held up her phone, "thats not true, my phone understands me texting and my voice."

(Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!)

So did I pass?

That's what Siri is for.

[WEDFan]

OCTAL!!!! aRRRRRRRRRRGGGHH! (Encountered in my youth, it has cause "lasting" memories)

yeah, not all that fun. I remember a co-worker once telling me that he had studied programming at UCLA, and at the time, you could tell the computer majors, as they were walking around campus with a stack of tractor feed fanfold paper, with notations written all over it because a line was in error.

I didn't find octal any better or worse than hex. Once you've got one of them down, the rest follow along fairly easily.

Oh, yeah! Green bar. Been there. And the notations were absolutely necessary in college since you only got 30 minute slots on the mainframe, and it was so overburdoned that all you had time to do was log in, enter new code or corrections, run a test, and log out. No online debugging. Those were the days!

[GaTechGal]

Oh, yeah! Green bar. Been there. And the notations were absolutely necessary in college since you only got 30 minute slots on the mainframe, and it was so overburdoned that all you had time to do was log in, enter new code or corrections, run a test, and log out. No online debugging. Those were the days!

At GA Tech, ICS majors had pretty much unlimited time on the Cyber system. Granted, you didn't always have anyone back there to bring you your printouts or help with any other sort of problem. But ALL of us had a red pencil to match up our branch and loop statements. Red just showed up better on the green bar. And at least no one in my year and after had to do cards. They did make the engineers take their intro classes on cards. I used to laugh.

[WEDFan]

And at least no one in my year and after had to do cards. They did make the engineers take their intro classes on cards. I used to laugh.

All IBM BAL (Basic Assembly Language) classes were still done on cards when I went to school, and my first work study job was peripheral operator, so I got to run the cards as well as seperate and distribute the printed output. You have seen anguish until you watched someone drop a full box of coded cards.

[BRWombat]

And at least no one in my year and after had to do cards. They did make the engineers take their intro classes on cards. I used to laugh.

All IBM BAL (Basic Assembly Language) classes were still done on cards when I went to school, and my first work study job was peripheral operator, so I got to run the cards as well as seperate and distribute the printed output. You have seen anguish until you watched someone drop a full box of coded cards.

So I'm not the only one here who learned to read the Hollerith code without using a machine to scan the cards?

[WEDFan]

So I'm not the only one here who learned to read the Hollerith code without using a machine to scan the cards?

Wait! What's an attourney doing reading punched cards??? That just seems wrong, somehow.

[BRWombat]

So I'm not the only one here who learned to read the Hollerith code without using a machine to scan the cards?

Wait! What's an attourney doing reading punched cards??? That just seems wrong, somehow.

I confuse a lot of people, on a daily basis. But that may not have anything to do with my profession.

My undergrad degree is in computer science. You'll find that law school students have a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Since the law covers (invades?) every area of human endeavor, it's a good thing to have lawyers who know their way around those subjects.

[hobie16]

So I'm not the only one here who learned to read the Hollerith code without using a machine to scan the cards?

Wait! What's an attourney doing reading punched cards??? That just seems wrong, somehow.

I confuse a lot of people, on a daily basis. But that may not have anything to do with my profession.

My undergrad degree is in computer science. You'll find that law school students have a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Since the law covers (invades?) every area of human endeavor, it's a good thing to have lawyers who know their way around those subjects.

That's a good idea. Otherwise, you get conversations like these:

Lawyer: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "Did you check for breathing?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
Witness: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
Lawyer: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
Witness: "Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere."

Lawyer: "If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck."
Witness: "If I look like a brain surgeon, and I talk like a brain surgeon, can I operate on your brain?"

[DisneyMom]

HA! I remember teaching a basic computer class to new employees. the idea was to give them enough knowledge that they could know what kind of information was available to them.

I always started out by asking for a show of hands, on who was a computer expert. As you might imagine, almost everyone's hand goes up.

I start by showing them a simple binary number, and how it is translated into hexadecimal, then how hex is used in various files and programs, headers etc. pretty basic stuff.

during one class, a newly hired female asked me why "they" didn't just use the alphabet like the rest of the world. (head slap!!)

umm, because digital devices only "know" on and off, zero or one.

she held up her phone, "thats not true, my phone understands me texting and my voice."

(Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!)

So did I pass?

That's what Siri is for.

I have Fun with Siri! Ask her, "Why is the Rum Gone?"