Aaaaargh - Cobol (a bit off-topic)

[flying_ford_anglia]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C2498
From: flying_ford_anglia
Subject: Aaaaargh - Cobol (a bit off-topic)
Reply To: [Yahoo! #2496] Okay, time to lighten things up a bit!
Date: 6/21/00 8:49 am  (ET)

Of course, I can't remember most of the things you listed, because
they happened in the US, but the mention of Cobol brought me out in a
cold sweat.

When I studied Computer Studies at school, there was no such thing as
a personal computer and 'terminals' were rare. I had to write my exam
program for a line printer (and since it was a board game, it had to be
printed out after each move - obviously, it wasn't very successful).

The aforementioned line printer was attached to a room-sized computer,
like something out of James Bond, located ten miles away at the local
technical college. We communicated with it via a 'modem', which, in
those days, meant pressing the telephone receiver into a sponge.

Later, at college, I progressed to learning Fortran and preparing punched
cards on a machine that looked like a torture device. These cards were
presented to the surly computer room supervisor, who would feed them
into the mammoth computer for processing. A few days later, you could
collect the results of your program, only to find that you'd put a hole
in the wrong place and declared war on Russia.

In order to avoid being completely off-topic, I wonder if they have
computers at Hogwarts? Do they ban all modern technology, so that the
students can appreciate the joys of the owl post and candlelight? Do
they not have electricity? Is it all done by magic?

Neil