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In case "this" is the Apollo 11 source code in the submission: Don Eyles, a 23-year-old self-described "beatnik" who had just graduated from Boston University

by 10ren 17y ago

In case "this" is the Apollo 11 source code in the submission: Don Eyles, a 23-year-old self-described "beatnik" who had just graduated from Boston University and was set the task of programming the software for the Moon landing. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=707801 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=707801 I read somewhere (can't find the link) that Dijkstra said he spoke to Eyles, and asked how he got everything correct. He replied that just a few days before launch, the software simulated the moon's gravity as repulsive, before he fixed it... "so the astronauts were lucky there". Probably apocryphal hearsay, but does chime with the "beatnik" story. EDIT Found it: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/91vki/don_eyles_a_23yearold_selfdescribed_beatnik_who/c0b54v3 http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/91vki/don_eyles...

demallien 17y ago
Definately apophycral - from the bbc article linked in the first ycombinator article: The rope core memories would become know as "LOL memory" after the "little old ladies" who knitted together the software at a factory just outside Boston. These ladies would sit in pairs with a memory unit between them, threading metres and metres of slender copper wires through and around the cores. "It's an extremely time-consuming process and it meant that the programs had to be finished and fully tested months in advance," said Mr Eyles.
- 10ren 17y ago
  I got some details wrong, but it's basically right. Dijkstra spoke to Joel Aron (not Eyles), "head of IBM's Federal Systems Division which had been responsible for the software of the moonshot". It wasn't specifically in the lunar module, but somewhere in the 40,000 LoC. However, the bug was that the moon was repelling; and it was found by accident, 5 days before launch. See Dijkstra say it in person, at 15:00 in this interview (context starts at 13:40): http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/video.html http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/video.html (I haven't linked directly to the 300MB download). Great interview BTW (dutch with subtitles).

by 10ren 17y ago

demallien 17y ago

Definately apophycral - from the bbc article linked in the first ycombinator article: The rope core memories would become know as "LOL memory" after the "little old ladies" who knitted together the software at a factory just outside Boston. These ladies would sit in pairs with a memory unit between them, threading metres and metres of slender copper wires through and around the cores. "It's an extremely time-consuming process and it meant that the programs had to be finished and fully tested months in advance," said Mr Eyles.

10ren 17y ago
I got some details wrong, but it's basically right. Dijkstra spoke to Joel Aron (not Eyles), "head of IBM's Federal Systems Division which had been responsible for the software of the moonshot". It wasn't specifically in the lunar module, but somewhere in the 40,000 LoC. However, the bug was that the moon was repelling; and it was found by accident, 5 days before launch. See Dijkstra say it in person, at 15:00 in this interview (context starts at 13:40): http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/video.html http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/video.html (I haven't linked directly to the 300MB download). Great interview BTW (dutch with subtitles).