HN via remix.js for vilnius.js

I love the header pic.

That describes so many projects that I've seen, over the years.

One of my first programming projects, was maintaining a 100KLoC+ FORTRAN IV email program, circa 1975.

No comments, no subroutines, short, inscrutable, variables, stepped on by dozens of junior programmers, and the big breadwinner for the company.

Joy.

It was probably the single biggest motivation for my uptight coding style, since. I never want to do to others, what was done to me[0].

"was maintaining a 100KLoC+ FORTRAN IV email program, circa 1975"

That sounds challenging, and very early for email. Would I find it in the timeline or was it internal only?

It was basically before Internet email.

Proprietary store-and-forward system, run by a BT subsidiary, named Dialcom. Ran on Prime minicomputers.

I worked there in 1987.

[UPDATED TO ADD] And to add insult to injury, it was all on sub-VGA 300-Baud VT-100 terminals and line printers.

I spent a lot of time, staring at blue-striped paper.

Telecom Gold! Good for you.

I still wake up screaming...

One of the issues with the system, was it couldn’t generate reliable billing.

One customer had been running the system for free, for years, because we couldn’t send them an accurate bill.

One look at that bowl of spaghetti, and it’s easy to see why.