Andy, When I was at Singer/ICL we used to employ "Dump Crackers". They really were geeks. One guy I knew used to be able to read a Hex Dump of PLAN code from a 1904 ICL system and convert the hex back into source code on the fly. Totally off the wall, he looked like a tramp, drank far too much cider even at work but was tolerated by the management who found him indispensable when things went wrong.
I saw him once dive into a 18 inch high stack of core dump listing and within 10 minutes he had isolated the problem and worked out a fix!! I may be a geek but not that much of a one. I limited myself to octal core dumps and straight assembler. Dave Crozier The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and to lie about your age -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andy Davies Sent: 31 October 2006 10:01 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NF] RE: Revenue model for open source databases Chet said "...the IBM's were still crippled by that DAMNED, IMPENETRABLE, EXCREBLE OS JCL " it got a bit opaque for the later OS's but I didn't think the DOS JCL was too bad - and if needed it was quite possible to read through the whole OS and see what it was doing**. You could just about do it with the first IBM PC's too - try that with Windows Vista! ** I actually met an IBMer with true photographic recall who could read through an OS dump in his head - you could see his eyes moving as he read it. Andrew Davies MBCS CITP - AndyD 8-)# ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] with any queries. ********************************************************************** [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
