7 ms·

There were on the order of hundreds of high school students with computer access in the US in 1969, and even fewer with computer literacy. Growing up in the Spa

There were on the order of hundreds of high school students with computer access in the US in 1969, and even fewer with computer literacy. Growing up in the Space Age probably was inspirational, but that doesn't change the fact that computers basically didn't exist to the general public at that time. Unlike now, software development wasn't a widely known career. There wasn't a CS major in the US until 1962. I think that makes it pretty notable he was a high school senior in 1969.

layer8 2y ago
It’s unsurprising that at least one of the hundreds would write such a game though? In particular when those having access already are self-selected to some degree.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  It’s unsurprising that anything was done by somebody. In fact it is inevitable that the most impressive thing is done by somebody out there, because otherwise it wouldn’t be a thing that was done. But, being that person can still be impressive.
- BobaFloutist 2y ago
  It's unsurprising that someone is the best at the world at running, but it's still pretty impressive when they do it.
schiffern 2y ago
EDIT Personally, for clarification, I do think the code is impressive, but the above back-and-forth doesn't really explain why. --- That explanation still wouldn't mean support the assertion that writing the lander game is the part that's "impressive for a high school senior in 1967." If anything, all this explanation would show is that their having access to a computer is the "impressive" part.
- Closi 2y ago
  It needs access to a computer, creativity, and an impressive amount of capability for a high school senior. This is 5 years before pong - you are inventing game concepts from scratch rather than standing on the shoulders of giants.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    > and an impressive amount of capability for a high school senior It's only impressive because very few (none?) high schools teach calculus at the level required for his implementation. High schoolers are quite capable of handling that kind of calculus, it's just that the high schools don't teach it.
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      I’m fairly certain that while schools might be capable of teaching calculus at this level, the amount of interest in that roughly corresponds with the number of students that already know calculus at that level anyway.
    - Closi 2y ago
      It's not about the level of calculus knowledge for me - it's about building this from scratch with 1960's technology in 50 lines of basic and very little prior art. It's easier to be the second person to do something.
      - WalterBright 2y ago
        I agree with that.
      - krallja 2y ago
        For accuracy, it was written in FOCAL, not BASIC.
scrame 2y ago
yeah bill gates at lakeside in Seattle was one of like 3 high schools in the country that had a computer.
blahedo 2y ago
Not disagreeing with the overall point here, but there definitely were some high schools with computers and programming classes by then---my mom was teaching programming (FORTRAN) in a Chicago high school starting in 1967. I think she was one of the first dozen or so high school programming teachers in the country but I don't think she was _the_ first.

layer8 2y ago

It’s unsurprising that at least one of the hundreds would write such a game though? In particular when those having access already are self-selected to some degree.

bee_rider 2y ago
It’s unsurprising that anything was done by somebody. In fact it is inevitable that the most impressive thing is done by somebody out there, because otherwise it wouldn’t be a thing that was done. But, being that person can still be impressive.
BobaFloutist 2y ago
It's unsurprising that someone is the best at the world at running, but it's still pretty impressive when they do it.

schiffern 2y ago

EDIT Personally, for clarification, I do think the code is impressive, but the above back-and-forth doesn't really explain why. --- That explanation still wouldn't mean support the assertion that writing the lander game is the part that's "impressive for a high school senior in 1967." If anything, all this explanation would show is that their having access to a computer is the "impressive" part.

Closi 2y ago
It needs access to a computer, creativity, and an impressive amount of capability for a high school senior. This is 5 years before pong - you are inventing game concepts from scratch rather than standing on the shoulders of giants.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- WalterBright 2y ago
  > and an impressive amount of capability for a high school senior It's only impressive because very few (none?) high schools teach calculus at the level required for his implementation. High schoolers are quite capable of handling that kind of calculus, it's just that the high schools don't teach it.
  - Aeolun 2y ago
    I’m fairly certain that while schools might be capable of teaching calculus at this level, the amount of interest in that roughly corresponds with the number of students that already know calculus at that level anyway.
  - Closi 2y ago
    It's not about the level of calculus knowledge for me - it's about building this from scratch with 1960's technology in 50 lines of basic and very little prior art. It's easier to be the second person to do something.
    - WalterBright 2y ago
      I agree with that.
    - krallja 2y ago
      For accuracy, it was written in FOCAL, not BASIC.

scrame 2y ago

yeah bill gates at lakeside in Seattle was one of like 3 high schools in the country that had a computer.

blahedo 2y ago

Not disagreeing with the overall point here, but there definitely were some high schools with computers and programming classes by then---my mom was teaching programming (FORTRAN) in a Chicago high school starting in 1967. I think she was one of the first dozen or so high school programming teachers in the country but I don't think she was _the_ first.