> > Reminds me of an old version of basic that could do self 
> modifying code.
> > Sort of.  Normally Goto needs a line number (or label), but 
> this one could
> > have a variable, the contents of the variable determine the 
> jump line.  So
> > "Goto X" depended on what X equaled.  Scary stuff.  Gosub 
> too, so "Gosub
> > X,
> > A, B, C" was possible.  Ha, debug that!

On my first sort-of job (In was still at the university) when had to
interafce to a hospital laboratory administration system. It was a Wang
minicomputer, running line-oriented Basic. It had a (very often used)
MERGE command to load the text of a program into the memory, *merging
line-wise it with the current program in memory*. The programmers who
had written the system were no quiche eaters, they often used this
technique to put new lines inbetween the lines of the current program.
Debug that, mister Holmes!

The programmers had long left (Wang had done this as a pilot, but the
product was never marketed). There was an old lady who more or less kept
the system going. She knew nothing of programming, but for every problem
that had occured in the past she had written down the symptom and the
cure as given to here by the original programmers. Which was often
something like "delete lines 840 .. 960; merge phase3.bas". When a
problem ocurred she just started trying cures (ignoring the symptoms)
untill she found one that seemed to work.

Wouter van Ooijen

-- -------------------------------------------
Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl
consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu
 


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