@#6 .. I started with FORTRAN on punch cards. ...

I also.

Back in college in the late 1960's.

I would sit at the keypunch to type my program onto punch cards (sometimes using multi-punch for non-ASCII "extended characters").

Then putting that "deck" of punch cards into the container for the computer center folk to process overnight and leave the output in my mailbox the next morning.

If I had a syntax error in what I typed in, well, lather, rinse, repeat. Turn-around time was a day, not minutes or hours.

I was so glad when in the early 1970's I could type in my program via a 110bps teletype terminal, ask the computer to compile it and get results in a few minutes.

Ah... the good old days...

@#9, 10

Yup.

Been there, had that happen.

@#9 ... From that point on every program I wrote I wrote a number on each card, sequentially. ...

Yeah.

The keypunch I used had the ability to tell it to put sequence numbers on the punch cards.

I quickly learned that was A Feature.

@#12 ... We got to do one run per week in high school. ...

My high school had a computer-oriented program, but the curriculum I chose (engineering college prep) didn't partake of that at the time (late 1960's).

It wasn't until college that I was introduced to computers. And I quickly found them to be more helpful (even with the one-day turn-around) than doing an analysis (with standard deviations and all that) of my testing lab results on a slide rule.

Have you ever used a slide rule to calculate a standard deviation analysis of the data you accumulated in a lab?

I'll just say, one lab session resulted with a full 24-hours (no exaggeration) on the slide rule to analyze the results.

So, if you ask me, ~how did you spend your freshmen college year~ my reply would be... on a slide rule...

Fortunately, my sophomore year I joined a Fraternity and there was a four-banger calculator in the study room of the Frat House. (not why I joined that Frat, fwiw...)

@#18 ... Our was pretty weak. ...

For my high school, the computer students wrote the programs that the school used (with the appropriate supervision).

Looking back, I now shudder at giving those kids such control. Nowadays, there are all manner of security issues that would be, need to be, raised. But back then, not so much.

But, there it was.

The Good Old Days.

When computers were helpful, and not a weapon.

@#18 ... I actually found my old slide rule in a box of stuff a few weeks ago. ...

My slide rule is in a box called "Memories."

It's a Keuffel & Esser Log Log Decitrg Duplex slide rule.

(wow, that's a mouthful)

:)

@#19 ... NERDS!!!!!!!!!!! ...

Yup.

And proud of it.

@#22 ... I had a TI calculator in high school ...

In my Memories box I have my old HP 35 calculator.

... and, if I may add ...

RPN rules.

:)

@#35 ... Loser. ...

I see your smiley. :)

My current calculator is an RPN one (HP 48GX. Way cool, btw...).

Though now, I admit, the stuff I use it for are not worthy of RPN.

But back in the day, when I had to enter complex formulae into the calculator, RPN was most appreciated.

YMMV and all that.

@#14 ... What if you had to insert a line? ...

The sequence numbers I used incremented by 10 per card.

So it was easy to insert a card in the deck in the proper place.

00010
00020

Often became

00010
00015
00020

And then

00010
00013
00015
00020

etc...

@#19 ... NERDS!!!!!!!!!!! ...

Yup.

And proud of it.

So... what's yer point?

:)

#@22 ... I had to learn how to use a slide ruler. ...

One thing about the slide rule that I liked, when you used it to come to an answer, you could look at it and see how you set up the problem you wanted it to solve. And then take a step back and evaluate how you set up the problem.

Calculators don't do that.

@#41 ... And Lamplighter...why do you still have a calculator? ...

Simple.

My mental arithmetic is not what it used to be.

When I went to a gas station to fill up the tank.

I used to look at the total cost and the gallons, and do the mental arithmetic to calculate the price per gallon, and then compare it with that the price per gallon on the pump displayed.

Sadly, I can no longer do that level of mental arithmetic.

But to answer your question, I don't use a calculator a lot, but once or twice, maybe, a month.

@#40 ... then picked up Fortran77 in college for Meteorology as that was the language running all the forecast modeling software. ...

Yeah, there is so much Fortran (and Cobol) software "out there" that needs to be mintained, and precious few who can maintain it.

For example...