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Let me tell you the tale of a former President’s wife, atom bombs, a nuclear submarine, and programming in COBOL…
One winter night in 2012 I had dinner with my mom and dad at the assisted living center. Everyone goes down to the dining room on the first floor. The tables seat four. It was pretty crowded when we arrived. A gentleman named Marvin was sitting at a table by himself. Perfect! There were three seats for the three of us. I sat next to Marvin. I had met him before, but we had never had an opportunity to really talk. Boy, was I in for a treat!
Like any good conversationalist, Marvin began by asking about me. This is always good advice. Instead of talking about yourself, ask the other person questions that will help you get to know them. We can’t resist being attracted to someone who wants to know more about us!
And the next step in a good conversation is to find common ground. When Marvin learned that I teach about computer networks, he told me that he used to program computers in the 1950’s. I asked him what programming language he worked with. He struggled for an answer, and I found out why shortly… finally he said that he programmed in COBOL, and later in FORTRAN. Now, this is amazing, but you may not get the full impact of it unless you know a little computer history. COBOL was one of the first commercial programming languages. But —…