4-OCT-79 16:19:24-PDT,524;000000000000
Date: 4 Oct 1979 4:14 pm (Thursday)
From: tanner.PA
Subject: Payroll
To: PaloAlto↑
I've received the following message from our Payroll Department in Rochester.
This means the money will be deposited on time, however stubs will be late.
Carol Tanner
ALL POINTS BULLETIN
-------------------
DUE TO PROCESSING PROBLEMS, THE MAILING OF THE WEEKLY PAYROLL
FOR PERIOD ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1979 WAS DELAYED. ALL
PAY STATEMENTS SHOULD ARRIVE ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1979.
PAYROLL SERVICES
4-OCT-79 17:33:57-PDT,1657;000000000000
Date: 4 Oct 1979 5:32 pm (Thursday)
From: Ingalls.PA
Subject: Wanted: 1 man-hour in 3 minutes, 3 hours away
To: Junk↑
Hi, Folks,
Ted Kaehler and I have just bought a piece of land in Mendocino County which
has a homesteading cabin on it. The problem is that the cabin is 200 feet away
from where we want it. We've looked at a lot of solutions, such as flat-bed
trucks, helicopters, a tow-rope to the moon, a million marbles, dynamite, and
psychokinesis, but none of these seems to have quite the right flavor. Today it
became clear that the answer is absurdly simple - we need people!
That's where you come in. We estimate that with 15-20 people we could pick up
the cabin and carry it. The question you can help to answer is: How many
people would drive 3 hours into the boonies just to do 3 minutes of work?
In order to help bias the results in our favor, you can be sure it will be fun.
In addition, we will provide food and refreshment for all who come. Finally,
this place is really beautiful, and we'd be happy to have people stay around
to hike or camp overnight. Kids are welcome and we're prepared to provide
entertainment in the form of simple jobs to do any time during your stay.
We hope to do it Saturday, the 13th of October, though Sunday the 14th and the
following weekend are other possibilities. If you're interested, please respond by
next Monday and I'll let you know if we have enough people, when to be there,
how to get there, and so forth. Indicate how many able bodies you could bring,
and which days are best for you.
Really - do you think you'll get another chance to carry a house?
4-OCT-79 17:52:49-PDT,4055;000000000000
Date: 4 Oct 1979 5:50 pm (Thursday)
Sender: Horning
Subject: Methodology Interest Group
To: CSL↑, PE-Interest↑
From: McKeeman, Horning
We are interested in starting a regular weekly meeting of those interested in
programming methodology and tools, somewhat in the style of the Cognitive
Sciences Discussion Group (i.e., something between a seminar series and a
discussion group, with a fair amount on continuity in attendance).
As the Cedar implementation begins to consume increasing amounts of our time,
it seems particularly important that we have a regular opportunity
to look at the larger picture,
to discuss the sorts of programming research that Cedar will enable, and
to keep in touch with interesting work elsewhere.
At the same time, it will be important to keep down the number of different
meetings that make demands on our time. We hope that this Methodology
Interest Group will help, by focusing what might otherwise be a disconnected
set of meetings.
Although we are circulating this initial message rather broadly, we are hoping
that attendance will be a relatively small group, almost all of whom attend each
week. Please respond with a message if you are interested in participating
regularly, indicating the days and times you COULD NOT attend, commenting
on the topics you would like to see discussed, and suggesting people (inside or
outside Xerox) who might be asked to raise particular topics.
(A later message to this same distribution list will solicit the names of those who
want to be on a distribution list for messages about the meetings of this group.)
Here is an initial "shopping list" of topics that might be covered:
PROGRAMMER PRODUCTIVITY
How do we measure programmer productivity? What limits it?
SOFTWARE TOOLS
How can we find out what tools contribute most to productivity? How much?
How is the answer influenced by the nature of the software being produced?
MENTAL TOOLS
Which techniques and disciplines are most promising? How can their use be
promoted?
FORMAL MANIPULATION OF PROGRAMS
The meetings of the Verification Group last summer indicated the possibility
of placing within a uniform framework a large number of static analysis and
transformation activities on programs that have traditionally considered to be
quite distinct. Verification, optimization (source- or object-level), compilation,
inspection (e.g., Masterscope), and transformational implementation, all seem to
require rather similar analysis techniques.
Can these core techniques be made available in generally useful packages?
Does this general framework suggest other useful tools? To what extent can
the techniques associated with verification (e.g., embedded assertions) be used
to guide optimization? Conversely, can the classical tools of optimization be
applied to simplifying the verification task?
SPECIFICATION
Can we develop tools for program specification that will actually be usable and
used by "real" programmers (e.g., ourselves, when we're trying to build a
system)? How much assistance will good specifications provide in the tasks
discussed above? What are the most important properties of specifications, and
where are present techniques most deficient? Is "requirements analysis" just
partial specification, or is it a conceptually distinct process, needing different
tools?
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
How can "large" projects be planned, organized, and run, to minimize the risks
and maximize confidence and productivity? Which of these techniques are also
useful for "small" projects? Is a large project best done as a small project that is
later extended in some regular way? How should the progress of a project be
estimated/measured? What sorts of "documentation" will be most useful in
insuring the maximum visibility and availability of information when it is
needed (both at the time decisions are being made, and later, when they are
being re-evaluated)? How can it be kept "fun"?
Bill and Jim
4-OCT-79 19:00:58-PDT,1245;000000000000
Date: 4 Oct 1979 6:58 pm (Thursday)
From: Boggs.PA
Subject: OS17
To: AllXerox↑
Version 17 of the Alto Bcpl Operating System is hereby released.
You can update your disk automatically by the following steps:
Make sure you have at least 300 free disk pages.
Use FTP to retrieve [Maxc]<Alto>NewOS.cm.
Type "@NewOS<carriage return>"
The principal change in this version is that file versions have been removed.
Courtesy of Ed Taft, looking up a file is now about 10 times faster. Page 33 of
the OS manual ([Maxc]<AltoDocs>OS.press) gives details on the other changes.
This material is also available as [Maxc]<AltoDocs>OS17.tty for those users who
don't need the whole OS manual.
Version 28 of Swat, the debugger, is also released. This version contains minor
bug fixes and improvements, but no major changes.
Ftp of 15 Sept 79 is also released. This version contains minor bug fixes and
improvements but no significant changes. It is not guaranteed to run under
OS16, though it probably will unless you use a Trident.
Courtesy of Keith Knox, Version 3 of Neptune is also released. Neptune is now
also available as a boot file from the NetExec. This version will definitely not
run under OS16.
/David
5-OCT-79 08:44:33-PDT,1466;000000000000
Date: 5 Oct 1979 8:43 am (Friday)
From: quarterman.PA at PARC-MAXC
Subject: Trek.Boot
To: games.dl↑
Well we have a new version of Trek out on the gateways. This one fixes a few
bugs and changes the user interface. Here is a list of the changes made:
1. You now win if you have a base in each star system. You don't have to
double up bases in order to win.
2. Communications are undamageable, so you can hear about people quiting
even when you're damaged.
3. Ships never disapear from the either scanner unless the ship died.
4. Turning off the Auto Pilot turns off acceleration.
5. The Phasers and Torpedoes may be fired from the direction change circle.
This is accomplished by the mouse buttons. The RedBug (left or top) is used as
before to change the angle of the phasers and the direction the ship faces. A
YellowBug (middle) is used to fire the Phasers if the cursor is in the circle. The
BlueBug (right or bottom) is used to fire the torpedoes if the cursor is in the
circle. You may also fire the Phasers and Torpedoes in the old standard way.
6. The screen once again flashes when a ship is killed. This was removed
accidentally and we had a lot of gripes (which we agreed with) so it was put
back in.
Please send me any problems that you have and also any comments.
Steve
Please update your games.dl as there have been some changes made again. It is
stored on [Maxc]<Quarterman>games.dl
5-OCT-79 10:51:52-PDT,305;000000000000
Date: 5 Oct 1979 10:45 am (Friday)
From: Taft.PA
Subject: Addendum to OS 17 release message
To: AllXerox↑
Alto users outside Palo Alto: before installing OS 17, please await an
announcement from your local support organization, and then obtain OS 17 from
your local file server, not from Maxc.
5-OCT-79 11:03:29-PDT,242;000000000000
Date: 5 OCT 1979 1028-PDT
From: QUARTERMAN
Subject: Trek.Boot
To: Gamers:
Sorry folks there was a major bug in the version released this morning.
This has been repaired and changed on the gateways.
Sorry,
Steve
-------
5-OCT-79 11:29:38-PDT,425;000000000000
Date: 5 Oct 1979 11:28 am (Friday)
From: Ornstein
Subject: Music
To: CSL↑, SSL↑
cc:
Many of you know that I am thinking about a music editor project that I hope
will become John Maxwell's Master's thesis project next summer/fall. Some of the
ideas are evolving right now and for those of you who want to be kept current,
I will maintain a distribution list. Let me know if you want to be added to it.
Severo
5-OCT-79 12:48:54-PDT,445;000000000000
Date: 5 Oct 1979 12:48 pm (Friday)
From: tanner
Subject: Menu for the week of 10/8 - 10/12
To: Cafeteriamenu↑
Monday
Plum Sauce Chicken $1.65
Vegetables
Rice
Tuesday
Lasagna $1.60
Salad
Garlic Bread
Wednesday
Kentucky Hot Brown $1.65
Corn Bread
Vegetables
Thursday
Old Fashioned Beef Stew $1.65
Biscuits
Dessert
Friday
Shrimp Newburg $1.60
Noodles
Salad