... system.¹

As of 2004, Microsoft has introduced a tablet computer - I don't recall its name - as if it were new, but in 1992, there was an entire industry built around pen-based computers.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

...Eo²

Pronounced like ``ee-oh'' or like the ``io'' in ``cheerio''.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... AT\&T.³

Thanks for Mark Peever for the detail about who made the Hobbit.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... MS-DOS.⁴

Pen Point did not run on top of MS-DOS.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... switches.⁵

In wireless telecom, a ``switch'' is one of the computers which hold your account information & which control the SS7 network which carries your voice data. The name is historical.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... ClearCase⁶

ClearCase, the mother of all source code control systems. Bad assed & cool, though proprietary & so complicated that I usually just prefer RCS.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... error⁷

At least I was able to believe it; I guess I don't know what others thought for sure.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... foresight⁸

Wisdom? Yeah, right. I already wrote that I had refused the password more through laziness than security concerns.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... Car-Containing-People.⁹

Hyphens aren't allowed in C++ symbols, but I'll include them here so L^ATEX can break these words across lines. It'll be more readable by humans, & we're not going to feed these class names to a compiler, so it won't hurt.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... Horton¹⁰

His last name really was Horton.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... Darmage.¹¹

How do you pronounce Darmage? It sounds like Damage.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... anyway.¹²

Developer Xboxes are less strict about the signatures, but they won't run a game that is cryptographically signed as a normal game for consumer consumption.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... drag-\&-drop¹³

...or by loading something into Microsoft Turd, then saving it to a new file. It makes me cringe.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... there¹⁴

Still there in Windows XP as of Saturday, 12 June 2004.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... Microsoft¹⁵

I've worked there twice, hated it both times, & refuse to work there ever again.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... 2000.¹⁶

I think it was Office 2000. Maybe it was Office 1999. Whatever.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... unusable.¹⁷

The other half were Linux & other unix-like systems.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... NP-complete.¹⁸

I read a few years later that it had been proved to be NP-hard. I don't know if it's been proved to be NP-complete.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... own.¹⁹

It wasn't a bad one. It was a useful learning experience, & maybe I should write about it here.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... button.²⁰

If I were doing it again, I wouldn't even give it a graphical user interface. It'd be a command line program that printed improved plans to stdout in a machine-readable form - CSV.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... deliver.²¹

I felt like I was being accused of something that was never specified. I still feel like that.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... idea.²²

Nowadays, I wouldn't have suggested a graphical user interface at all. It would read & write files, with configuration data in the form of command line options.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... implement²³

He had some way of saying that which implied I was incompetent. At least that's how it sounded to me.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... files.²⁴

I've since used that technique many times & never regretted it.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... manager²⁵

The development manager in the If I Need It, Read It section had become the technical development manager.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... good.²⁶

Two weeks later, I started a new job at Celcore in Tennessee. It was good.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... test.²⁷

If my memory serves correctly - & it might not - the script processed over 30,000 records per hour. Whatever the number was, it was plenty fast enough.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... infinitive.²⁸

I missed one point on the final exam (an essay) in a high school English class because I split an infinitive. I received a 99 percent on that exam, which was a respectable second highest grade in the class, but I will forever bitterly remember the rule about split infinitives because my friend & constant competitor, Troy, got the best grade, which was 100 percent.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... MHz.²⁹

Such a machine sounds silly today, but it was plenty fast back then.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

...Today³⁰

Today as I write this is 2006 February 24.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.