July, 2026: Google copybara allows one to move code between two prod repositories
March, 1974: IBM COPY allows one to move code between two prod partitioned data sets: OS/MVT and 0S/VS2 TSO Data Utilities COPY, FORMAT, LIST, MERGE User's Guide and Reference https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/downloads/8987
Tech documentation has been kind of a three-decade race to the bottom, with some ups and downs along the way. From vendor documentation in the 70's to Windows Help in the 90s to the rise of tech books incl. O'Reilly to fill the gap, to PDF and Internet document, and now to often lacking-in-detail Javadocs, Python docs, API interface, API docs, event/parameter lists, and GitHub README files that are passed off as documentation today, often with no detail, use examples, illustrations, or though-through overall structure and organization.
In addition to the obvious negative effect on learning curves, I'd argue this dearth of "long-form documentation" has a negative impact on programming language and app development, as well as software usability in general (isn't CONTROL+COMMAND+SHIFT+3 for a MAC screen capture intuitive?)..
AI has become the new "teacher of record" to fill this documentation void, but it's very individualized and narrowly focused. There's no longer a shared mental model, where everyone has read the same books and are working somewhat off the same page. Ironically, it's probably never been easier to write a good tech book, but there's likely zero money in it and the search and AI giants are likely to hover it up and start serving snippets of it up for free before you see a dime, making people very unlikely to buy your book, even if you've written a technical masterpiece!
List history (listory?) lesson, kids: As the link below to a 1985 IBM mainframe DCF/GML manual shows, DL-DT-DD have been a thing since before the web. In addition to Definition lists (DL), the 40+ year-old documentation describes Glossary lists (GL), Ordered lists (OL), Unordered lists (UL), and Simple lists (SL).
ibm :: 370 :: DCF :: SH35-0050-2 Document Composition Facility Generalized Markup Language Implementation Guide Rel 3 Mar85
And even if the house represents negative wealth - same property taxes apply to a house regardless of whether the owner owns it outright with no mortgage (wealthy) or if they're paying 8% interest on an underwater mortgage (negative wealth). And, unlike VCs, property taxes are paid - often for decades - before one even sees if they'll even realize any wealth from the estimated value of their home that they pay tax on.
Jefferson and Read had sold a scripted series to Apple titled Scraper that was based on the inner workings of Gawker, and the quartet, along with a handful of, as Carmichael puts it, “very accomplished, amazing screenwriters and playwrights on Broadway,” were producing scripts for the first season. [...] “Max and I had been concerned about that when we sold the project to Apple,” says Jefferson, but the executives developing the project “told us there was a very protective firewall between the TV side and the tech side.” But a month before the writers room wrapped with scripts for the first season’s eight episodes, Jefferson recalls, “an executive called me and said word had reached Tim Cook that we were doing a show set in a world similar to Gawker, and he had put the kibosh on it personally.” Jefferson and his 3 Arts Entertainment manager Jermaine Johnson (who also represents Read and Carmichael) say they heard about but never saw an email in which Cook allegedly referred to Gawker as rife with “vile human beings.” (Cook did not respond to requests for comment.)
The IBM 3270 display family was amazing for its time - a character-oriented, block-mode terminal that supported light pens and APL keyboards in the '70s, as well as color graphics and a plasma display that supported four 80x24 logical screens in the early 80's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_3270
As noted above, 'Fully Open Access' does not mean completely free. So, while this change is welcome, there are still a lot of pricing/licensing options:
Also, the 'Basic Edition' provided for free to individuals without institutional/individual accounts, the ACM explains, does not include niceties such as 'Advanced Search' (e.g., filters), which requires an upgrade https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55017806873_c9ba2490c1_b...
RIP. Was a faithful CC viewer. Anyone aware of something like this show today that regularly reviews general software/apps/hardware/tech for a more mainstream audience - on PBS, cable, network, or even podcasts? With the role tech plays in the lives of all ages these days, one would think there would be more tech info offerings for the general public today than what was available back in the 80's - Computer Chronicles, MSNBC shows, magazine/newspapers (including the NY Times!) - but nothing comes to mind.
Very neat. And if anyone from Plotly should happen to be reading this, a compact format like this might be an interesting option for Icicle Charts, akin to how the compact, indented version of Excel pivot tables saves horizontal space over the "classic" format pivot table.
Just out of curiosity, how have you seen risk/compliance, regulatory, and audit departments at organizations deal with the disconnect between security and privacy for something like mainframe logging (e.g., JES2, JES3), which is typically inherently governed, and modern distributed logging, which is typically inherently permissive? Both are vastly different approaches, but each is somehow considered 'compliant.' Btw, employees at a company I was at were once investigated for insider trading simply because it was discovered the company used pooled logs that were accessible by production support programmers (the company decided to override the default mainframe security), which was deemed a possible source of insider trading information that could be tapped into by those who had log access (programmers were eventually cleared if it was discovered their small personal trades were immaterial and just coincidental with the company's trading, but the investigation led to uncomfortable confrontations for some!).
Very fun, simple, and clever! In the spirit of the Mix CDs my kids used to make & share with friends back in the day (without the frustration). Nice job!
So, why not a SORT BY ALL or a GROUPSORT BY ALL, too? Not always what you want (e.g., when you're ranking on a summarized column), but it often alphabetic order on the GROUP BY columns is just what the doctor ordered! :-)
July, 2026: Google copybara allows one to move code between two prod repositories
March, 1974: IBM COPY allows one to move code between two prod partitioned data sets: OS/MVT and 0S/VS2 TSO Data Utilities COPY, FORMAT, LIST, MERGE User's Guide and Reference https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/downloads/8987