My dad used to work as a "system programmer" in Poland, starting in late 70's. He has worked in a biggest (I think) government facility back then. He used to write IO code for a database system. Because of a ban on IP imports across the Iron Curtain, or maybe how expensive DB/2 was, rewriting from scratch was the only option to have something that actually worked. It was all about registering child births, deaths, marriages, etc. So whole that database system was written by just a handful of people in S/370 Assembler (I think) using obviously 3270 terminal.
I was in his office number of times. Journey usually was starting in the morning. We did not have a car so we were taking a tram, about 45 mins to get there. Then about 5 mins walk and we are saluted by fully armed soldier. Then my dad calls the captain, using a phone handed over by another soldier behind the desk, asking if he can enter facility with his son. Permission granted, we enter.
For me, that was a completely different and magical world behind that gate. Everything neat and tidy, very unlike the world outside. My dad was taking me to his room (no open spaces back then) shared with one maybe two colleagues. Each had a terminal and a phone on their desks. Room was full of documentation books, punch cards here and there, other strangely formatted papers. I was allowed to wander through the office, use lifts (very hi-techy compared to what I saw before) and so on. I was 10. A boy in communist country in a middle of such facility.
Every now and then my dad was taking me to the main DC. One of the places I could not enter on my own. For me, it was stunning. Risen floor (with cables running below), noisy climate control and a room, 40m x 40m maybe full of mixture of washing machine or refrigerator size devices. One corner of that place was behind a glass with people in white coats there. Considering the noise, probably a good idea. One, maybe two of them, were wandering around in that DC looking at all the flashy lights.
So my dad was walking me around, telling me what those devices were: that's the disk (10MB If I remember correctly), that's the tape backup, that's a printer (A3 printer, noisy and fast), and here it is, that's the main CPU. I think it was IBM, but cannot be sure. There was also this Odra system there, probably with 1Mhz CPU, being a top of the line back then. In our country.
Later on my dad got a PC from his employer, it was a 4.77Mhz 8086 PC with 20MB disk. I was allowed to use it. This was the machine that got me into programming. It was so slow and noncompetitive to Atari and Amiga that the only fun thing to do with it was to program it. That sealed the deal.
I was in his office number of times. Journey usually was starting in the morning. We did not have a car so we were taking a tram, about 45 mins to get there. Then about 5 mins walk and we are saluted by fully armed soldier. Then my dad calls the captain, using a phone handed over by another soldier behind the desk, asking if he can enter facility with his son. Permission granted, we enter.
For me, that was a completely different and magical world behind that gate. Everything neat and tidy, very unlike the world outside. My dad was taking me to his room (no open spaces back then) shared with one maybe two colleagues. Each had a terminal and a phone on their desks. Room was full of documentation books, punch cards here and there, other strangely formatted papers. I was allowed to wander through the office, use lifts (very hi-techy compared to what I saw before) and so on. I was 10. A boy in communist country in a middle of such facility.
Every now and then my dad was taking me to the main DC. One of the places I could not enter on my own. For me, it was stunning. Risen floor (with cables running below), noisy climate control and a room, 40m x 40m maybe full of mixture of washing machine or refrigerator size devices. One corner of that place was behind a glass with people in white coats there. Considering the noise, probably a good idea. One, maybe two of them, were wandering around in that DC looking at all the flashy lights.
So my dad was walking me around, telling me what those devices were: that's the disk (10MB If I remember correctly), that's the tape backup, that's a printer (A3 printer, noisy and fast), and here it is, that's the main CPU. I think it was IBM, but cannot be sure. There was also this Odra system there, probably with 1Mhz CPU, being a top of the line back then. In our country.
Later on my dad got a PC from his employer, it was a 4.77Mhz 8086 PC with 20MB disk. I was allowed to use it. This was the machine that got me into programming. It was so slow and noncompetitive to Atari and Amiga that the only fun thing to do with it was to program it. That sealed the deal.