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Searching for some old notes, I came across an old printout from my student days: One of my fellow students, Jon E. Strømme, jotted down this list of references in 1979 or 1980, free to use wherever it might fit  . It still makes me chukle, almost 40 years later. Published here with the explicit permission from Jon:
Pascal, Blaise : On the feasibility of computing machines.
Lejeune fils, Paris 685. 300 p.
Babbage, Charles : Analytical machines of today and tomorrow.
Oxford, London 1885. 400 p.
Zuse, Konrad : Digital analytical machines, Bomben und Granaten.
Springer Verlag, Berlin 1943. 500 p.
Backus, C. C. & al : FORmula TRANsgression language.
Wliley, New York 1957. 385 p.
Dreyfus, H. : What computers cannot do. 1st ed.
Harper and Row, Chicago 1974. 430 p.
Dreyfus, H. : What computers cannot do. 2nd ed.
Harper and Row, Chicago 1979. 225 p.
Dreyfus, H. : What computers cannot do. 3rd ed.
Harper and Row, Chicago 1984. 17 p.
MULTIVAC & al : What humans cannot do.
ARPA Network 1992. 26000 bytes.
MULTIVAC & al : What humans cannot do, and why they shouldn't.
COMPUTERS EXCLUSIVE 2005. 126 GB.
MULTIVAC III : Humans – myth or historical fact?
A###519
350071 3XS22
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Cool stuff! I must find the first two. I always thought it was FORmula TRANslation. Even Wikipedia agrees with me. But I guess yours was the very first acronym...
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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megaadam wrote: I must find the first two.
You may be inundated with offers along with exhortations to open bank accounts to receive large sums of money from Nigeria.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
modified 20-Jun-18 9:02am.
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Huh? Charles Babbage is back from the grave with fresh ransomware?
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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I'm guessing Pascal is 1685, not 685
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Ooops. Sorry for the typo. You are obviously right
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No books on JavaScript ..
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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In 1979-80?
We did programming on punched cards at that time. I'm serious. That year interactive terminals were introduced in the introduction to programming course taught to all students at the tech.university, but for other courses, we used the punched cards for another year or two. Univac was in the process of developing terminal handling for its OS-1100 mainframe OS, but in 1979, the few terminals available was really clones of the operator console, intended for operators to load and unload open reel half-inch tapes. The OS was designed for so big installations that six to eight operators could be active at the same time, each with a separate console, but with disk taking over, many installations had only one "true" console, and the other seven where made avialable for starting (non-interactive) jobs and reading the result log before it arrived from the 1000 lpm line printer.
Univac didn't provide an interactive facility for code editing until 1981 or 82, and even then it was teletype style. Screen oriented editors for Univac 1100 series didn't arrive until later.
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tl; dr
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Period - and, no, I'm not explaining it! 
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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As Donald Trump would put it, "Bleeding from her eyes.... or whatever"! 
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Today's CommitStrip[^] in the daily news sounds a chord. With this[^] (or were the hamsters spying down under?)
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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So true ... so much bandwidth sacrificed ...
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I recently moved over to a new company about 6 months ago, but now I've got my previous employer contacting me to do some freelance work after hours to patch a few things and add some new features to the existing system.
Here's the but; but I'm concerned with protecting myself against any sort of liability or longer term support (after all there is a reason I left). since the previous work was building control systems for industrial equipment, there's a lot of liability real quick if something went wrong, and now that I'm no longer employed by them I'm worried if something did go wrong, I would get it in the end.
Do I want to do it? No. But I've got some guilt on leaving them without another programmer to pick up the load.
So any suggestions on how to protect myself? or should I just pass and leave them hanging?
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If there is significant liability in your industry, the only way you can get any protection at all is via a contract that clearly shifts the liability to your former employer. You can probably find a boiler-plater contract out there, but personally, I wouldn't be comfortable using one without a lawyer.
I'd nicely explain your desire to help, but that you can't because you're worried about liability. That answer probably won't be well-received, especially if your employer is desperate, but that's about the best you can do. Sounds like a tough situation, best of luck.
Now, if they're willing to pay enough to cover your legal costs, that might be a whole different thing. I'd bet heavily that won't be the case
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I know how they pay, It's not likely to cover anywhere near the costs of a lawyer. thanks for the advice.
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I am assuming that you gave them enough notice before quitting, so there's no need for any guilt (they're exploiting your guilt).
If you were so important to them, they shouldn't have let you go (you moved out for a better pay, I suppose, among other things). They've left themselves hanging out for drying, not you. If they're not going to cover the lawyer's cost of drafting a contract that protects you, then I see it as them not wanting you to help them.
If I were you, I'd say "wish I could help you" to the company, have a hot chocolate, and call it a day.
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About the pay, even without liability concerns, I would expect at least double what your salary would work out to based on 2080 hours a year. When I left an employer, they retained me for side work for four months to complete some changes they wanted and do some support for two big pushes. They paid me a little less then they would have paid a consulting agency which would have worked out more than double what I had been getting.
If you would consider doing it ask them to provide a contract limiting your liability. Ensure the rate is enough to cover having a lawyer working for you review the contract. Heck, you could even make a condition be that they reimburse you for that expense.
YOU are in the driver's seat.
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Good contracts, good liability insurance, and a damn good lawyer.
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I'd move on. As an employee, you do have some liability in the case of gross negligence, but otherwise you are shielded. This is not so as an independent contractor with some narrow exceptions. That said, you'd need to talk with a qualified attorney. (In the end, you'd probably pay more in legal fees and liability insurance that you'd make.)
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thanks for the advice. the company, and the industry in general have a bad way of pointing fingers if something happens months or years down the road. one of the main reasons for leaving after 18 years, just couldn't take it anymore.
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Listen to Eric, do not take on potential liability without legal advice. Also do not feel guilty about leaving an employer without a replacement unless you walked out on them without notice.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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