Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2016 22:07:42 -0600 From: Larry Rosenman <ler@lerctr.org> To: Kevin Oberman <rkoberman@gmail.com> Cc: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Ports <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org>, Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org>, owner-freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FOCAL Message-ID: <1fca9c334b64e9c1e9a7c64edb8723eb@lerctr.org> In-Reply-To: <CAN6yY1somoKTrkAkMWEqFuTJcLW5B=0KdKCCYbJ-48gWn0nm3A@mail.gmail.com> References: <alpine.BSF.2.20.1612031139380.79558@aneurin.horsfall.org> <20161203015938.GE44284@eureka.lemis.com> <CAN6yY1somoKTrkAkMWEqFuTJcLW5B=0KdKCCYbJ-48gWn0nm3A@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 2016-12-02 22:02, Kevin Oberman wrote: > On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 5:59 PM, Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@freebsd.org> > wrote: > >> On Saturday, 3 December 2016 at 11:40:36 +1100, Dave Horsfall wrote: >> > Be there an implementation of FOCAL? I have a hankering to get back to >> my >> > early programming days :-) >> >> Heh. I have a paper tape from my first year at uni somewhere in the >> mess on my desk. It's been there for at least 10 years, and it's >> short enough for it to be practical to read it in by eye, but I >> haven't got more than a third of the way through. It's in FOCAL-69, >> and does some world-shattering calculations like mean and standard >> deviation. It would be fun to run it again--once. >> >> Greg >> > > Wow! Have not thought of FOCAL in years. Used to write a bit both when > in > college and, using FOCAL-11, in my early years at LLNL. Unlike FOCAL on > a > PDP-8, FOCAL-11 ran on top of DOS-11. (No relation to Microsoft DOS.) > The > PDP-8L was the only solid state computer in the lab. All of the others > still had vacuum tubes and drum memory, though the Univac Athena had > both > drum and core. > > In college I wrote a simple craps game and, it it caught you trying to > cheat, it zeroed your account and gave you the finger on the ASR-33. My > computer logic prof (and department head) saw that trivial ASCII art > and > chewed me a new one for putting code to generate that gesture on a > school > computer. That was about 45 years ago. Memories! Brings back memories for me as well from high school. Back in 1972. PDP-8/L in the Levittown (NY) School District. -- Larry Rosenman http://www.lerctr.org/~ler Phone: +1 214-642-9640 E-Mail: ler@lerctr.org US Mail: 17716 Limpia Crk, Round Rock, TX 78664-7281
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?1fca9c334b64e9c1e9a7c64edb8723eb>