retrocomputing
:retrocomputing: /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations of
way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations
of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such implementations are
elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for {hack value}
, of more `serious' designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed
retrocomputing utility was the `pnch(6)' or `bcd(6)' program on V7 and
other early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of
text argument and display the corresponding pattern in punched card
code. Other well-known retrocomputing hacks have included the
programming language INTERCAL
, a JCL
emulating shell for Unix, the
card-punch-emulating editor named 029, and various elaborate PDP-11
hardware emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old,
sourceless Zork
binary running.
A tasty selection of retrocomputing programs are made available at the
Retrocomputing Museum, `http://www.tuxedo.org/retro'.
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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