Great read. I learnt to program at high school(mid 70s) on hand punched cards (paper-clips are amazing tools!) in Portran. Took to local bank each lunchtime to

Great read. I learnt to program at high school(mid 70s) on hand punched cards (paper-clips are amazing tools!) in Portran. Took to local bank each lunchtime to get processed. Dabbled with Algol/W learnt the same way and then at uni used punch machines to learn COBOL. One of our finals was to design, code, punch, debug a solution - we got 4 days to do it which means finding typos, logic errors, and design errors and elimintating them all with only 4 re-runs (1981)! Today i would re-compile 4x in the blink of an eye and my code is not more reliable than way back then. My first job was as a programmer at NCR and re used a line editor - such joy to be able to change and compile without getting up from my desk. Handling 200Mb disk drives the size of washing machines is another story though. The 'art' of desk checking is invaluable to some of us while others prefer the 'suck it and see', or the 'push and pray' approaches. They all have their place, but if one is isnt a math geek then desk checks are the best way to 'prove' out the code and find bugs.