Re: The joy of FORTRAN

On 3/9/25 3:14 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Sun, 9 Mar 2025 18:32:16 +0000, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
 

IRC this was one of the technologies created from scratch by Jules
Vernes's castaways on The Mysterious Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island

 I should reread Verne. I was fascinated with his novels as a kid but that
was a long time ago. I also liked 'Swiss Family Robinson', 'Robinson
Crusoe' not so much. Defoe's style was a little archaic while 'Swiss
Family' may have been improved by translation.

   Verne is worth re-reading. He was quite good, esp
   for his time. Kept company with all the top tech
   and industry people of his era - so his 'sci-fi'
   was often closer to 'bleeding-edge'.
   There have been a few good films of Wells stuff
   also - the early 60s "First Men In The Moon",
   the Rod Taylor "Time Machine" and the Gene Barry
   'War Of The Worlds' update. Also been BAD films.
   The odd WOTW with Tom Cruise was weird ... the
   same story, but from a Joe Anybody's on the
   street perspective.
   Home-made spark-gap ... CAN be done. However
   if you wanna TUNE it you'd better have a
   Google-like knowledge of winding inductors
   and the formulas for caps made from little
   scraps of metal and the relevant resonance
   equations. Some DO ... even more 50 years ago.
   I know what NEEDS to be done - but those
   formulas/tables, long gone from the memory bank.
   If about to be lost at sea or cast upon an island,
   always travel with a copy of Glover's "Pocket Ref".
   Everything in there you'd ever need.