The Trouble with Gerrold: Self-validating code January 15, 2013
— (Page 1 of 4) Related Search Term(s): debugging At the
beginning, it was called “microcomputing.” Enthusiasts were
delighted at the idea that computing could finally be freed from
the “priesthood.” Magazines like “Creative Computing” and "Byte”
and “Kilobaud” foresaw a future when programming would be a
skill as ubiquitous as reading, writing and long division.
Right. Nbdy duz lng div anymor & we all rite lk ths now. The
future refuses to cooperate with our predictions and forecasts.
But aside from that, the early days of microcomputing were very
exciting, because you could watch the first stages of evolution
at work. There wasn’t a lot of software at the beginning. You
had to write your own. So you went to the magazines to learn,
and later on, CompuServe. A useful article might explain why
Quick Sort was better than Bubble Sort, comparing sort times,
explaining the algorithm, and finally providing a sample code
listing that you could adapt to