Comments on: What the heck is a word processor? http://www.thetechnologypro.com/2009/07/04/what-the-heck-is-a-word-processor/ Using Technology To Grow Your Business Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:59:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Nicole http://www.thetechnologypro.com/2009/07/04/what-the-heck-is-a-word-processor/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Nicole Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:25:09 +0000 http://www.thetechnologypro.com/?p=61#comment-13 When I was in B-school --...we had to take Computer Programming Classes as part of our curriculum. We learned the languages - and wrote mini-programs in things like Cobol - we worked on programs that sorted change for a change machine - very practical. We also were able to use the 1 mainframe computer with decks of cards - to create programs that could do complex formulas automatically - you know things like Regression Analysis....oooooo. I had learned to type in HS so I was well ahead of all of my peers - 95% boys - who had never typed a keystroke in their lives. With a stack of 300 or so cards to type - each one with one line of code on it - we'd set them into this giant tray and hope for the best - no typos! It was always really exciting to press that giant button and see the machine read your cards. Eventually, the school had terminals set up - a new method of accessing the mainframe. $ lots of $ and > were used and it all seemed so magical not to have to use the cards anymore. But the most fun was working in Lotus before what they called WYSIWYG. When WYSIWYG came out - it really felt like we were leaping forward. Presentations took days and days to put together - but once they were done - WOW! were the higher-ups impressed. When I was in B-school –…we had to take Computer Programming Classes as part of our curriculum. We learned the languages – and wrote mini-programs in things like Cobol – we worked on programs that sorted change for a change machine – very practical.

We also were able to use the 1 mainframe computer with decks of cards – to create programs that could do complex formulas automatically – you know things like Regression Analysis….oooooo. I had learned to type in HS so I was well ahead of all of my peers – 95% boys – who had never typed a keystroke in their lives. With a stack of 300 or so cards to type – each one with one line of code on it – we’d set them into this giant tray and hope for the best – no typos! It was always really exciting to press that giant button and see the machine read your cards.

Eventually, the school had terminals set up – a new method of accessing the mainframe. $ lots of $ and > were used and it all seemed so magical not to have to use the cards anymore.

But the most fun was working in Lotus before what they called WYSIWYG. When WYSIWYG came out – it really felt like we were leaping forward. Presentations took days and days to put together – but once they were done – WOW! were the higher-ups impressed.

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