On 8/13/2013 10:43 PM, Tony B. Shepherd wrote:
> On 8/13/2013 7:09 PM, Jeff Kell wrote:
>> On 8/13/2013 5:13 PM, Tony B. Shepherd wrote:
>>> Hey there!
>>>
>>> On 8/13/2013 2:20 PM, Jeff Kell wrote:
>>>> Just wrote this up for our campus newsletter.  What a ride!
>> I have to open this response to the list...
> //blush mode on   :)
>
>> Tony has been lurking for some time on the list :)  He was my original
>> mentor at UTC, designed the student database (IMAGE) from scratch, and
>> formulated the original SPL-supplied COBOL interface we incorporated for
>> terminal input and database calls.  They later evolved, at least the
>> COBOL database bits, into macro supported expansions of straightforward
>> database calls.
> Desperation can be a powerful motivator :)
>
> I had transferred over from UT Knoxville, and they had done some pioneering
> work there. I had the benefit of a lot of exposure to formal teams doing it
> the right way the third time :) UTK was trying to put in something using 4
> CRTs with 12 lines of 40 characters, programmed in 360 Assembly language on
> a 360/40 under DOS. I escaped just in time to UTC ;)
>
> UTC had an onerous lease on an IBM 360/30, and we were able to wiggle our
> way into a new machine - we thought an HP 3000 CX. By the time the dust
> settled, a HP 3000 Series II was actually delivered.
>
> We had some extremely talented people, backed by a wonderful set of
> administrators and departments. And we were often just plain lucky. For
> instance, lots of our cables were pulled by the National Guard as a weekend
> drill, and purchased at about a dime on the dollar from Federal surplus.
>
>> Tony was miles ahead... very forward thinking.  It was a design that . . .
> Tony was at the right place at the right time with the right people. For
> example, I happened to see a newspaper article (remember those?) about a 106
> year old woman (in Florida?) who was being harassed by the state - for not
> being in school yet. Something about 2 digit years :) So we made our dates 8
> digit binary, S9(8) comp in Cobol, against all advice from the experts. I
> hear Y2K was pretty easy at UTC.
>
>> I threw in a few bits here and there (assembler optimization of much . . .
> Jeff is being very modest. He knew that box far better than I. We had
> arranged a spare pack in case a hard drive needed one - they were hard to
> get then - and Jeff could come in and use it - standalone - off hours.
>
> One day we left it up for the CE to perform maintenance. He was shocked to
> see the messages come up in Olde English - Jeff had patched the binaries of
> MPE! "Hark! Yon scribe hath depleted the supply of parchment on LDEV 6" was
> one of them I believe. All of us enjoyed the joke :)
>
> I got the idea for the interface layers from watching re-writes of a lot of
> assembly language code at UTK. UTC's initial implementation was in Cobol -
> copy modules and performs. Then Jeff started doing his SPL magic and turned
> them into high performance modules rather than defensive mechanisms.
>
>> But I digress.  I can't take the limelight of our 3000 history without
>> bringing in my mentor :)
>> Jeff
> Thank you Jeff, but it took all of us.
>
> I'd also like to mention Dr. John True. John became the director of the
> Computer Center when I became the assistant director. John passed away in
> 1998, and at the time Jeff wrote:
>> John was on the Interex Board of Directors during his tenure here at UTC
>> and was very active in the HP user's group community at the time.  I
>> can't begin to express a proper tribute to him as I would not be where I
>> am now without his support and encouragement.  He was a great man and a
>> wonderful manager.  He will be sorely missed.  His contributions to the
>> 3000 community were significant, but pre-dated the electronic age where
>> anything of significance could be found here on HP3000-L.
> I replied:
>> John was a good egg.  He and I took some huge risks career-wise and came
>> out ahead.  He was good to work with ( I hope he could say the same :).  I
>> can claim credit for some of the gory details, but it was John who sold it
>> to the powers that be.  It couldn't have come to pass without him.  He made
>> some very large differences at UTC.
> //blush mode off   :)
>
> Back to the shadows. Peace.

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