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Previously on "Aw diddums, in my day..."

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  • DallasDad
    replied
    We had cutting edge technology for our exams - were allowed to use Slide Rules

    I had my own PDP11 running DSM (Digital Standard Mumps) for a while till replacing it with a Compaq 386SX - sold it to some bod providing support to fleet street iirc.
    Last edited by DallasDad; 21 May 2016, 13:29. Reason: typo

    Leave a comment:


  • NickFitz
    replied
    Our PDP-8/e had two Teletypes and a VDU attached to it. One day, somebody wrote a program for use only on the VDU: it printed "I", then backspaced and printed "O", then backspaced, and looped back to the beginning. Due to the low speed of the serial connection from the computer to the VDU, this gave the impression of a spinning disk.

    That was the first example of computer animation I ever saw

    Leave a comment:


  • adubya
    replied
    Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post
    RM 380Z for us too.....

    One chap wrote space invaders on it!
    I think that was widely available as we had space invaders on ours

    Leave a comment:


  • unemployed
    replied
    Originally posted by PurpleGorilla View Post
    At least the maths was simple in your day.

    2 x teachers wage =
    You are missing a zero

    Leave a comment:


  • BrilloPad
    replied
    Originally posted by adubya View Post
    Your school had a PDP-8 ? Independent school ?

    We had a RM 380Z
    RM 380Z for us too.....

    One chap wrote space invaders on it!

    Leave a comment:


  • PurpleGorilla
    replied
    At least the maths was simple in your day.

    2 x teachers wage =

    Leave a comment:


  • Uncle Albert
    replied
    Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
    Well they may have had British born and educated female primary school teachers like one I met who stated "Maths is hard" and "Girls can't do Maths anyway".

    Myself and the other more mature lady, with a Maths degree, I was standing next to were too stunted to act or reply.
    Are you saying size matters?

    Leave a comment:


  • SueEllen
    replied
    Originally posted by zeitghost
    Ah yes, but you knew about hundreds, tens and units, unlike the present unfortunates.

    And the advantage of knowing your times tables.

    We (me & a lecturer) were gobsmacked at the way the esteemed customers were taught to do multiplication.

    I'm not sure we ever found out how they do long division.
    Well they may have had British born and educated female primary school teachers like one I met who stated "Maths is hard" and "Girls can't do Maths anyway".

    Myself and the other more mature lady, with a Maths degree, I was standing next to were too stunted to act or reply.

    Leave a comment:


  • scooterscot
    replied
    Originally posted by OwlHoot View Post
    rational

    (assuming you mean real numbers used in numerical calculations)
    I'm not really into Euclidean geometry, when I younger perhaps.

    Leave a comment:


  • OwlHoot
    replied
    Originally posted by scooterscot View Post
    Technically all numbers are whole. I wonder if they're talking about integers...
    rational

    (assuming you mean real numbers used in numerical calculations)

    Leave a comment:


  • scooterscot
    replied
    Is a number not defined by a set?

    Leave a comment:


  • JozefBlofeld
    replied
    Originally posted by scooterscot View Post
    Technically all numbers are whole. I wonder if they're talking about integers...
    Whole numbers as in ...

    The numbers {0, 1, 2, 3, ...} etc. There is no fractional or decimal part. And no negatives.

    Leave a comment:


  • unemployed
    replied
    Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
    Public school, though I got there on the 11-plus

    It was either the first or second school in the UK to have its own computer on the premises (historians are, I believe, uncertain) - I think it arrived around 1972 or 1973, a short while before me. As I recall it was donated by a rich parent.

    Around 1977 funds were allocated to buy an additional 8K of core. The canny teachers responsible for it waited a year or so, and spent the money instead on two SWTPC-6800 machines, each with 64K of RAM, one with twin floppies and the other with a cassette interface. Even the cassettes were faster than the punched paper tape we'd been used to. Halcyon days
    Another old chunt

    Leave a comment:


  • scooterscot
    replied
    Technically all numbers are whole. I wonder if they're talking about integers...

    Leave a comment:


  • NickFitz
    replied
    Originally posted by adubya View Post
    Your school had a PDP-8 ? Independent school ?

    We had a RM 380Z
    Public school, though I got there on the 11-plus

    It was either the first or second school in the UK to have its own computer on the premises (historians are, I believe, uncertain) - I think it arrived around 1972 or 1973, a short while before me. As I recall it was donated by a rich parent.

    Around 1977 funds were allocated to buy an additional 8K of core. The canny teachers responsible for it waited a year or so, and spent the money instead on two SWTPC-6800 machines, each with 64K of RAM, one with twin floppies and the other with a cassette interface. Even the cassettes were faster than the punched paper tape we'd been used to. Halcyon days

    Leave a comment:

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