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What was the mainstream programming language before C took the lead?
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COBOL, FORTRAN?
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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assembler and Fortran here. Maybe PL/1
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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Assembler here
A home without books is a body without soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero
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COBOL, FORTRAN, PL/1, and various Assembly languages. It really depended on the hardware and application. What's interesting to note is that other than the Assembly languages, none of the high-level languages at the time had buffer overrun, use after free, use before allocation, and the entire host of possible memory management errors that have resulted in roughly 90% of all vulnerabilities.
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Can you tell an approximate timeframe for when C took over? Was Dos written in C?
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Before C there were lots of higher level assembly languages (Jean Sammett wrote in the 70-ies, may be even late 60-ies, a thick book with on the cover the tower of Babel.
I myself used assembler (PDP-8, PDP-9) until I ported BCPL to the PDP-9, later using
BCPL on and for the PDP-11 with cross compilation for the P860 (a small Philips 16 bit computer with obly papertape in and output).
I actually wrote a lot of software in BCPL, including parser generators and a compiler for Algol 60 on the PDP-11
It was in app 1978 that we got Unix on a PDP-11 and obtained the original C Book
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For me, it was mostly assembler - first for the PDP-8, then the IBM 360 and PDP-11, and lastly, the Motorola 6800 and Intel 8xx8 processors. Of course, in those days I specialized in operating systems, device drivers, system utilities, and hardware diagnostics.
Most of my peers used COBOL or FORTRAN. 
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
“If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” - John Wooden
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Well crap, there goes my weekend plans.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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I spend a lot of time trying to get my code right. Sure, I'm not immune to bugs. Could I be better about methodically testing? Absolutely, especially since I hate that part, but I think for the most part I do a pretty good job. I just spent awhile tracking down all kinds of little issues to get my SVGs rendering pixel perfect. They now look better than the reference implementation I've been using.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's mail client dies inside about every other time my computer suspends itself. Their windows task bar gets confused and starts stacking task icons almost completely on top of each other, etc.
If big companies like MS are pushing user expectations downward in terms of software quality, it makes me wonder.
Other than integrity and self respect, why do I care if my code works, if Microsoft doesn't? If IBM doesn't? If Oracle doesn't? You know?
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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Because for some reason, clients spend thousands and thousands on big suppliers that don't get the job done, but when it comes to us little folk they want only the best for the lowest price and they want it yesterday 
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True. Maybe it's because Microsoft basically has a captive consumer base.
Operating systems vendors end up being a small pond with big fish just because of the sheer man hours/capital-expenditure it takes to develop a modern OS.
You have what? Apple's OS/Linux/Windows*. Unless you want to go totally off the beaten path with something like QNX, but that's usually cost prohibitive for compatibility and user education reasons.
Apple doesn't really compete except as boutique because they've priced themselves out of ever being a mainstream consumer product, although to their credit, they've expanded that boutique market more than I thought it could bear.
Users on Linux is something that IT people scare their children with if they misbehave.
So Windows it is. What real choice does one have?
*ChromeOS doesn't count. Don't even go there - it's a phone with a keyboard, not a PC.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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honey the codewitch wrote: *ChromeOS doesn't count. Don't even go there - it's a phone with a keyboard, not a PC.
The way I see it, ChromeOS is for the Anything-But-Microsoft crowd that isn't technical enough to use Linux, and at the same time smart enough not to want to pay the Apple tax. Or they're smart enough to avoid it. But looking at ChromeOS, I have to question whether those buyers realize what they're getting themselves into.
Sometimes I wish there was more competition, but then I'm reminded interoperability is a mess even with just the few options that exist today. More would just compound the problem.
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There is surely apathy from the part of people employed at large companies like those you mention. Can't work out a problem? Push it out anyway, if it becomes a problem for enough people, someone else will surely get the job of fixing it eventually.
But when it's your own, and your name gets attached to it, you tend to take pride in your work and don't want to be made to look bad. There's really something about putting a project together on your own that works better than what a multi-billion company can do.
That's why I would bother.
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I wonder if I left the wrong impression with my initial comment.  I absolutely agree with you, but I wrote what I did as food for thought.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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I know when it comes to code, you're just about the last person I would ever expect to drop the ball, especially when integrity and self-respect is at play. You've made too many posts about rewriting and restarting projects for me to expect any less.
I wrote what I wrote to express my point of view, being fully aware - or at least assuming - you also share it. No wrong impression here, at least not from my part.
modified 2hrs 20mins ago.
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I support the software I produce so it's personal.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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That's kinda the ideal scenario, innit? At least from a quality standpoint.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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honey the codewitch wrote: At least from a quality standpoint
Dogfooding works! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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Pride
A home without books is a body without soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.4.0 (Many new features) JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: EventAggregator
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Because the Management of those big companies are too busy focusing on "Maximizing Share Holder Value" and have lost sight of the real software business that got them to where they are today.
I believe that there are tens of thousands of frustrated, really talented technical people who feel trapped by the toxic environments that they are forced to work in, in those overly big companies. Projects cut to pieces in the quest for unreasonable deadlines and dispersed among teams that have no contact with each other (except via problem recording/resolution tracking software, where posting too many problems dams the career of the poster).
Take Microsoft's latest disaster. They have pre-sold OEMs on building hardware with specialized "AI" hardware because Microsoft was coming out with killer "AI" software. So with the OEMs (with visions of skyrocketing hardware sales dancing in their heads (hey, it's almost Christmas (lol)). Have gone ahead invested millions in the new "Co-Pilot+ PCs". Only Microsoft doesn't have any killer "AI" software. In fact, most of the "AI" software is embroiled in massive lawsuits and a lot of public confusion and hate. So they quick, push out, the "Recall" software. An 'idea' that had not been baked too long deep in the bowels of Microsoft. The "Recall" software is ridiculed for lack of security and creepy spying. Microsoft pulls back the software but they have painted themselves into a corner. They have nothing else. Their stock valuation is based on their technical prowess with "AI". They must do something to "Maximize Share Holder Value"! So they round up all the internal technical wizards that they can find and quick patch up the software to make it palatable.
And a half-baked idea is going to be forced out into the public where it will definitely have bugs, definitely have security failings and for the most part is unwanted or at least poorly understood by the very public they expect to buy the hardware to run the software.
So do not discount "Integrity and Self-Respect" or "caring if your code works" and I might add, the vision to know that the software is useful, solves a problem and will be a strong foundation for future applications.
That is what is important (In My Own Humble Opinion).
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Because this who we are...
"It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox
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