How code has changed since the Apollo 11 Moon landing
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Read Write[^]:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
A lot. Fortunately.
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Read Write[^]:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
A lot. Fortunately.
I think it's a mistake to minimize the efforts of the programmers who wrote that code. Their toolset was minimal and unbelievably primitive compared to what we're used to. The hardware was cramped, to say the least. They had very few resources when they found problems. I can only assume they had a premium support contract from IBM, which meant they might be able to call someone on the phone to help out. All of that diminishes to insignificance when compared to the consequences if they made a mistake. Three lives, millions of dollars in hardware, and the dreams of a nation could die.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I think it's a mistake to minimize the efforts of the programmers who wrote that code. Their toolset was minimal and unbelievably primitive compared to what we're used to. The hardware was cramped, to say the least. They had very few resources when they found problems. I can only assume they had a premium support contract from IBM, which meant they might be able to call someone on the phone to help out. All of that diminishes to insignificance when compared to the consequences if they made a mistake. Three lives, millions of dollars in hardware, and the dreams of a nation could die.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
I think it's a mistake to minimize the efforts of the programmers who wrote that code.
Sorry if I did, that wasn't intent. I'm just glad we're not verbing the noun for a UI anymore. And I'm REALLY glad I don't have to code in the limits they were forced into.
TTFN - Kent
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
I think it's a mistake to minimize the efforts of the programmers who wrote that code.
Sorry if I did, that wasn't intent. I'm just glad we're not verbing the noun for a UI anymore. And I'm REALLY glad I don't have to code in the limits they were forced into.
TTFN - Kent
have a read of this to get some idea of just how restricted the environment was. The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) You will develop a whole new respect for the caliber of the programmers
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Read Write[^]:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
A lot. Fortunately.
Downloading the software has changed a bit as well: Software written by MIT programmers was woven into core rope memory by female workers in factories http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory[^] no last minute bug fixes and definitely no 'Windows Update'.
Peter "Until the invention of the computer, the machine gun was the device that enabled humans to make the most mistakes in the smallest amount of time."
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Read Write[^]:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
A lot. Fortunately.
Link seems broken at present.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
I think it's a mistake to minimize the efforts of the programmers who wrote that code.
Sorry if I did, that wasn't intent. I'm just glad we're not verbing the noun for a UI anymore. And I'm REALLY glad I don't have to code in the limits they were forced into.
TTFN - Kent
I didn't think you were at fault, Kent - it was the article and the condescending tone of the opening paragraphs. I was a kid in the 60's and grew up with the space program. With the pallid, slack-jawed, sunken-chested state of NASA these days, remarks about Apollo and what was accomplished are one of my hot buttons.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Link seems broken at present.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.
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Read Write[^]:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
A lot. Fortunately.
Kent Sharkey wrote:
The Apollo missions had technology no more complicated than a pocket calculator … everybody knows that. But hardly anybody talks about the computer code that helped send astronauts to the moon and back, which was equally as simple.
I wrote a blog article about the AGC here[^] which acknowledges a few other aspects of this early software.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that... - Harvey