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From 12BitSlab in article's comments > I don't mind if billg gets a little arrogant at times. One merely has to look at how he wrote the ROM code for the Alta

From 12BitSlab in article's comments > I don't mind if billg gets a little arrogant at times. One merely has to look at how he wrote the ROM code for the Altair to realize his abilities. > Also, ALL of the concepts embodied in modern tablets and smartphones were "invented" by billg when he wrote the code for the Tandy 100. Things like "instant on", data stored in non-volitile memory, small productivity apps, continue from the same point after power down, etc. Persoannly, I put billg in the Top 5 of all-time CS people who contributed to computing. This is an interesting claim, I was always under the impression that while Gates could code, he wasn't at all a CS giant.

anologwintermut 13y ago
He had the fastest algorithm for pancake sorting for a long time. Not the coolest thing, but still pretty impressive and not just can code. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92236781 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9223678...
cpr 13y ago
When I was an undergrad (a year ahead of Gates, 72-76), Harvard had only "intro to programming" undergrad courses, so those of us CS (well, applied math) majors who arrived at college already competent at programming pretty much just took all grad CS courses for 4 years. The faculty were enlightened enough not to care that we weren't grad students. Gates was certainly one of the brighter undergrads in those courses. I don't know if that makes him a "CS giant," but he was no slouch.
- virtualwhys 13y ago
  Awesome story, thanks. While you guys were coding away at Harvard, I was not yet able to properly focus my mind, and so took to running around the streets of Cambridge(port) in diapers instead ;-) p.s. from the above one can assume I was either born in '72 or was taking far too much acid for my own good.
Tloewald 13y ago
You should look at the 16-bit VM Woz wrote for the Apple ][ http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm Anyway, Engelbart, et al, had figured out all this stuff 10 years earlier.

anologwintermut 13y ago

He had the fastest algorithm for pancake sorting for a long time. Not the coolest thing, but still pretty impressive and not just can code. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92236781 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9223678...

cpr 13y ago

When I was an undergrad (a year ahead of Gates, 72-76), Harvard had only "intro to programming" undergrad courses, so those of us CS (well, applied math) majors who arrived at college already competent at programming pretty much just took all grad CS courses for 4 years. The faculty were enlightened enough not to care that we weren't grad students. Gates was certainly one of the brighter undergrads in those courses. I don't know if that makes him a "CS giant," but he was no slouch.

virtualwhys 13y ago
Awesome story, thanks. While you guys were coding away at Harvard, I was not yet able to properly focus my mind, and so took to running around the streets of Cambridge(port) in diapers instead ;-) p.s. from the above one can assume I was either born in '72 or was taking far too much acid for my own good.

Tloewald 13y ago

You should look at the 16-bit VM Woz wrote for the Apple ][ http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm Anyway, Engelbart, et al, had figured out all this stuff 10 years earlier.