4 ms·

> hand them off to the secretary pool to type up This brought back a memory. In the late 80s I got a job at a very high-tech science and engineering firm. A co

> hand them off to the secretary pool to type up This brought back a memory. In the late 80s I got a job at a very high-tech science and engineering firm. A colleague told me to be careful about writing code. His supervisor had walked by his office one day and saw him writing code on a terminal. He chewed him out for "typing" because "typing is for secretaries." Apparently the correct procedure was to hand-write your code onto a paper form and hand it to a secretary for entry into the computer. I assumed my colleague was joking but checked out the official procedure and it was true. After that, I shut my door when I wrote code.

WalterBright 6y ago
When I started using the Wang, I did get a bit of ribbing for doing "women's work". I laughed at that, and it didn't happen again. Heck, I'd been using a computer to write my papers in college (using DECUS' runoff program, similar to Unix's man formatting program). I can't remember the last time I hand wrote more than a few words.
- seg_lol 6y ago
  I wonder how many of those women had to learn to code to fix the typos? The level of structural sexism back then was off the charts, at least it was overt. Now we just tell people there is no glass ceiling and it must be their problem.
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    The Wang didn't allow for any coding.
    - seg_lol 6y ago
      Neither does paper. I am wondering about error rates, human -> paper, paper -> file, file -> execution. Those feedback loops are enormous. It would be interesting to interview woman from the computer code typing pool.
plausibledeny 6y ago
Worked for a medium-size software company in the 90s. When our company got a new CEO someone at an all-hands asked him to describe his experience with computers. He was very clear that he didn't use them, wouldn't have one in his office and that he had an executive assistant for that sort of thing.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  Probably the last of his kind!

WalterBright 6y ago

When I started using the Wang, I did get a bit of ribbing for doing "women's work". I laughed at that, and it didn't happen again. Heck, I'd been using a computer to write my papers in college (using DECUS' runoff program, similar to Unix's man formatting program). I can't remember the last time I hand wrote more than a few words.

seg_lol 6y ago
I wonder how many of those women had to learn to code to fix the typos? The level of structural sexism back then was off the charts, at least it was overt. Now we just tell people there is no glass ceiling and it must be their problem.
- WalterBright 6y ago
  The Wang didn't allow for any coding.
  - seg_lol 6y ago
    Neither does paper. I am wondering about error rates, human -> paper, paper -> file, file -> execution. Those feedback loops are enormous. It would be interesting to interview woman from the computer code typing pool.

plausibledeny 6y ago

Worked for a medium-size software company in the 90s. When our company got a new CEO someone at an all-hands asked him to describe his experience with computers. He was very clear that he didn't use them, wouldn't have one in his office and that he had an executive assistant for that sort of thing.

WalterBright 6y ago
Probably the last of his kind!