4 ms·
There's a book or two by Vernor Vinge where a character is a hobbyist "software archaeologist"; the character traces back one of the most basic programs -- I th
by drdeadringer 6y ago
There's a book or two by Vernor Vinge where a character is a hobbyist "software archaeologist"; the character traces back one of the most basic programs -- I think it was the time//clock program -- and [re?]discovers the Unix Epoch of 1-Jan-1970. Because space-faring humanity in the far future runs on some flavor of Unix. The character concludes that that specific date was chosen because that was when humanity first walked on the moon.
The point being to reiterate yours -- there's a decent chance the code you write will survive in some form far longer than initially told or intended.
- jodrellblank 6y agoPretty sure it’s the A Fire Upon the Deep / A Deepness in the Sky series by Vinge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep
- kabdib 6y agoIt's from _A Deepness in the Sky_. The actual epoch chosen was the time of the first moon landing, a little prior to 1-Jan-1970 (I like this touch, something with actual historical significance and likely documentable to a fraction of a second, rather than an arbitrary date).