[inforoots] Internet April Fools Jokes

[Herbert Kanner]

This is an April Fool's prank that failed in an amusing way, proving 
the need for software quality control.

The computer was Maniac III at the University of Chicago. The date 
was some April First between 1959 and 1964. The computer had a drum 
printer with 48 print positions and no brains whatsoever. So programs 
had to provide a print matrix, the row coordinate being the print 
position and the column coordinate being the desired character. So, 
each column had to contain one and only one "1". The chief engineer 
warned all programmers that the culprit who gave a print command to 
an address that was the start of a solid bank of 1's would have to 
personally replace 48 fuses. Finally, the computer was somewhat like 
the PDP-1 in that its hardware could read a paper tape and obey 
instructions therein.

The was a standard yard-long tape that was used to "boot" the 
machine. All it did was enter a short program that was needed to be 
resident; I don't remember why. This tape, being used every day, was 
made of a paper-mylar-paper sandwich, and over time, got to look 
pretty gross.

Well, my co-conspirators and I created a similar looking tape what 
had one function: to cause the printer to output "April Fool" in big 
block letters. And, of course, we kidnapped the standard boot tape 
and left this tape in its place. Alas, we did not have time to try 
out the tape. Guess what! The "April Fool" was readable only if 
observed through a mirror!

-- 
Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Do not meddle in the affairs of cats,
for they are subtle and will pee
on your computer!
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