[TUHS] Re: End of an era: the last ATC (USENIX Annual Technical Conference)

Behind the glass wall in the basement of the University of Georgia graduate studies building, was the wide floor of the computer center and behind that was the office of one of my mentors, Bob Stearms. As he typed PL/1 into his 3278 terminal--channel connected no less--I spied a plain white book sitting on a shelf in his book case with an orange title "SOFTWARE TOOLS." I picked it up and flipped through it. It was 1980, the first year of my marriage. "What's this?", I asked as I pick up the volume and started flipping through it. "It's from the Unix guys. They wrote a pre-processor for FORTRAN and called it Ratfor. Then they wrote a bunch of the Unix programs in it." "Can I borrow it?" "Sure." I changed my life. I still use what I learned from it forty-five years later. And still very happily married to the bride of my youth. After Bob passed away, Frieda gave me that volume. It's one of my prized possessions. Forget Unix and C. The biggest research achievement to come out of 1127 was a clear understanding of how to program. Brantley