[TUHS] C declarations.

[gdmr@inf.ed.ac.uk (George Ross)]

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> ...  When you
> submitted a card deck in the early days, you had to include both the
> function definition and the data--the function was compiled, the data
> was read, and, for the most part there were no significant side
> effects (just a printout, and maybe some stuff on mag tape).

In the late 1970s I had a summer job which involved writing FORTRAN 
programs to analyse card decks.  This was on some IBM machine, which had a 
combi card punch/reader.  On one run the program loaded and compiled, and 
the first two data cards went through.  Then the machine crashed.

After a bit of head-scratching, I realised that it was because the punch 
station came immediately before the read station, and there was a small 
typo in the program.  It processed the first data card, but rather than 
logging to the printer it overpunched the second card instead resulting in 
an invalid hole combination.  That card then went into the read station, 
and the machine didn't like it...
-- 
George D M Ross MSc PhD CEng MBCS CITP, University of Edinburgh,
School of Informatics, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH8 9AB
Mail: gdmr at inf.ed.ac.uk   Voice: 0131 650 5147   Fax: 0131 650 6899
PGP: 1024D/AD758CC5  B91E D430 1E0D 5883 EF6A  426C B676 5C2B AD75 8CC5

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