[Discuss] What was once old is new again...

[mbr at arlsoft.com (MBR)]

On 2/18/16 12:27 AM, Bill Horne wrote:
> Bill, who thinks that loading FOCAL from paper tape is the true test 
> of computer wizardry!
>
I never used FOCAL, but I frequently loaded EDU20 from paper tape. EDU20 
was the version of DEC's PDP-8 multi-user BASIC that ran without a mass 
storage device.  It could output only to an ASR-33 tty or a high speed 
paper tape punch, but it fit in 12K 12-bit words!  My first task when I 
started working for DEC was adding enhancements to EDU20 and EDU25.  
EDU25 was the version of the code that supported DECtape and disk.

I've always felt that the true test of computer wizardry is figuring out 
what the following code does and how it does it.  In the first week or 
so after I started at DEC, my officemate gave me this code as a challenge:

    0004    TAD 5
    0005    DCA I 10
    0006    JMP 4
    0007    ISZ 10
    0010    10

So, all you PDP-8 programmers out there (all 2 of you), put on your 
thinking caps!

    Mark Rosenthal