----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Roberts"
Subject: Re: Home Computer Prediction From 1954
Yeah, well *my* first computer was an 8-bit Babbage difference engine.
'Course, I spent the extra money to get a steam powered one rather than
the kind you had to hook a horse up to...
When I was in grade 8, which would have been 1970, I guess, the university installed a punch card terminal in my high school and all of a sudden, we had a computer science program.
We did our little programs in basic, and the bundles of cards were sent off to be run through the computer. The next day, we got back tractor feed sheets of our work.
Grade 9 we graduated to Fortran.
It was all fun and games, with contests to see who could generate the most print outs.
William Robb
