Changing your career path - Do you mean I need to know math | Eastern North Carolina Now

Engineering and Math go hand in hand in discouraging your college major.

    I intended to become an engineer or electronics technician. I guess I forgot about the road to hell construction project. After graduating in 1963, I enrolled in a Dekalb Technical College which had recently opened near my home. I always had an interest in radio and electronics and this seemed like a natural path. The tuition was cheap, I could live at home, I could commute just a few miles and I could stay in touch with my friends. My plan worked fairly well when I took drafting, Electronic Schematics, and then technical writing. However, it fell apart when we got into the "angle of the dangle" and the "sign of the co-sign". Do you mean that all this is based on some sort of math and formulas? Having failed Algebra twice in high school, I should have known that this was not a career path for me, but with the ambivalence that I approached everything else at eighteen, I plowed on.

    As soon as I realized that my math skills would not allow me to continue with that plan, I switched my enrollment to Georgia State College in Atlanta. It offered the same benefits listed above with the exception of a twelve-mile drive. I was still somewhat enamored with the electronics so I decided to major in computer science. In 1964, there were no desktop computers, there were only the large room sized computers that were for the most part manufactured and supported by large companies like IBM. Below is a picture of the Georgia State computer from 1968 era, which may be the same computer we used in 1965-67. Notice the card reader on the right of the picture. Stack-em, smack-em. Photo courtesy of Georgia State University Library



    I had visions of becoming a programmer. My horizons and goals were not to become rich, but to get in on the ground floor of a burgeoning business that was sure to provide some job security for many years to come. The answer to your question of course is that I did realize that math was involved but it would be a much simpler math; as in ones and zeroes (1 and 0).

    In 1965, programming required punch cards. Programming in binary (or machine language) was done using the punch cards, which would be stacked and fed into the IBM computer. First, you would write a text summary of what you wanted to accomplish and then you would create a text procedure using the logic. After you had proofed you logic all you had to do was sit at the terminal and create your punch cards. It all seemed so simple only two choices, yes or no - 1 or 0. The card were fed into the reader and the result was strung together in series. Cards read at the amazing speed of a computer meant that almost anything could be simplified by a computer running one of my programs. Cobol was a very complicated English object oriented language but is was simpler than the O's and 1's strung together that were the main stay of binary programming. Most of this is a blur in my gray matter now, but the cards remain embedded in my memory.

    It only took one bad punch, lost or mutilated card would to crash the program; Just like the 2000 election in Florida. It was early computer technology at its worse. Today most computers are programmed in a variety of languages. Most are just translators that eventually convert to binary which the computer still needs to operate; but it does so at a humongous speed. Maybe the 2000 election should reinforce the fact that our government is a bit behind the times when it comes to technology. Punch cards in a national election; GIVE ME A BREAK!!

    My first clue that this would not be as simple as I thought was a phrase that I kept seeing: Boolean Logic. It had something to do with gates: NOT, AND, OR, NOR. Naturally, I merely skimmed the textbook chapter on gates. What is so hard about a gate? It is either open or closed.

    Cutting to the chase with a lot left out in between is my strong suit in learning (unfortunately, the same does not hold true in writing). It got me through high school with barely passing grades, but passing none the less.

    One of the practical jokes at GSC was jumbling up a fellow student's punch cards or just taking one out of the stack. Upon reflection this where my first symptoms of OCPD started. (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Without everything in perfect order the computer would just crash or get lost. No matter how smart we may think a computer is today, it is merely following a series of directions. We may be on the brink of computers thinking for themselves, but they would just be creating their own coded programs. GIGO (Garbage in Garbage Out)

    I have long advocated that computers should be built with a "Gut Check" function that humans have. Every so often, the computer should just stop and run the "Gut Check" routine. I also advocate that most humans do the same from time to time.

Computer please run the "Gut Check Routine --- Does this make any sense"?


    Well I never completed my quest to become a programmer. I think it had something to do with beer and girls. Eventually, I flunked out and...
(Thanks Ted Mcdonald for showing me how to improve my writing using the Ellipsis...)

    I gave up programming but lately I have resorted to a similar form of binary programming. The motivation is the constant search for that pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. It occurs every Wednesday and Saturday. The beauty of it is that you don't need to know any more math than choosing five (5) numbers from 1 to 69 and only one number from 1 to 26. If done correctly you stand to win an enormous amount of money that you can use to hire people to do your thinking and planning for you.

    Did I mention that I also flunked Statistics at GSC. It had something to do with odds and probability but I skipped that chapter as well...
(Thanks again TMAC)

    Here is my one and only punch card now and I guard it better than I did my stack of punch cards at GSC. After all it is a list of my lucky numbers and everyone know that in gambling you must play your lucky numbers. Well that is not totally true. You see there are numerous games today that use the punch type cards. Everyday a game is played. Some games are played every four minutes. It is called KENO and I have written about that before. Here is my previous post on KENO I might add that the tuition for this state run school is extremely high. But you can get a certificate. It says "NOT A WINNER". Obviously the programmer did not have a sense of humor or it would say. "LOSER". I have hope that Bernie will make this tuition free as well, so I can continue to attend the classes from time to time.
   Below is the Georgia Powerball play card. It is five games at $2.00 per game or $10.00 total play.

   It must have been a Hanging Chad on this game



Submitted by Bobby Tony, the roving FLUFF REPORTER


Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Vidant employee given Administrative Leader Patient and Family Advisor Champion Award by NC Hospital Association Small History, In the Past, Body & Soul Army Training using Daisy BB guns?

HbAD0

 
Back to Top