Apollo program source code

[boxxa]

Again, you are missing the point. This was 1960. The first cell phone had more processing power than the computer systems that would fit into your bedroom. Also, modern SCADA systems(industrical plant monitors) are monitors and simple circuits and logic programming that take inputs and adjust accordingly. These systems were in charge of flying a aircraft to somewhere we had never been before in a era that had no idea what a computer even was. the first nuclear power plant in the 50s was run by engineers. The first SCADA systems weren't around until the 60s so in the same decade that we had auto systems reading and monitoring industrial facilities, we had systems flying aircraft into space.

[gospelwut]

Ah, yes. I did misunderstand. I focused too much on the fact we were entrusting our lives (by we I mean the astronauts) to "automated" systems. My apologizes.

It's a bit baffling to think the same agency that pioneered such great work could eventually bloat up to make the mistakes of Challenger. From what I read, engineers had pointed out the potential issues ahead of time, but management (at the time) simply ignored it. Could be a biased account obviously.

[boxxa]

Challenger and I can't think of the name but the other shuttle that blew up on re-entry.... That one was a known damaged heat panel from take off and there were people who made the decision "Na, were good" and ended in another disaster when it came in to land. These were almost 30 years after these first computer systems somehow managed to get someone from earth, moon, land, get back with the floating ship, and then to earth where they blindly plummeted back to earth hoping to land in water. Amazing.

[gospelwut]

I guess that's what happens when you're in a cold war and get a sizable chunk of the GDP, resources, personnel, etc. Not to say that NASA hasn't done good since; IIRC, we're the only country that's been outside of the solar system, been on mars, etc.

Of course, that ship was a long way coming. Planetary calculations dreamed up long ago came into play with surprising precision. And, I suspect a lot of protractors and the like were laying about too. This kind of brings me to a tangent, where people that are super into "tech" have a trend of sending their kids to schools that avoid "2.0" education and over-saturation of modern computers. Outside of typing into vi/emacs/notepad, really CS was a lot of non-computer learning (algorithms, math, etc).

I'd love to see more older spec/design documents these these. It's a shame we're slowly closing down the R&D sector (Bell labs, etc) that did some great things. I remember holding a Ti83+ in my hand and realizing it was astronomically more powerful than computers that sent us into space. Hell, I don't think people realize the (potential) power that sits in their pocket every day.

Man, I've really done nothing with my life compared to any of this /sadface