Date:         Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:20:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Nat Wooding <nathani@VERIZON.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Nat Wooding <nathani@VERIZON.NET>
Subject:      Re: Fun With SAS - My Vote for Oddest SAS Programming Language
              "Feature"
In-Reply-To:  <20101230032139.6D722DC1EB@sparky.unx.csupomona.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

David

If you want to really jerk their chains, try telling them that punch cards
replaced punched clay tablets and wait to see just how long it takes them to
see that you are joking.

Of course, clay tape was a really hard medium to work with.

A site with some interesting history that may amuse the infants is

http://www.pattonhq.com/ibm.html

which tells of the use of "computer cards" during WW2 and how the US Army
used rather primitive equipment to keep track of who was where and just how
alive they were.

On a personal note, they managed to loose track of my father for a couple
months in 1945 but the Germans were creating a bit of a distraction.

Nat Wooding

-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of David J
Moriarty
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 10:22 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Fun With SAS - My Vote for Oddest SAS Programming Language
"Feature"

At 05:39 AM Wednesday 12/29/2010, Michael Raithel wrote:

>If you can relate to this, let the list know your own vote for the
>oddest SAS programming language feature.

Although the command makes perfect sense to me - when you teach
college students, and they find one of your old SAS programs with CARDS;
And you have to try explain computer cards. You get the "Really? Just
how old are you?" look.....

-------------------------------------------
David J. Moriarty, Ph.D.
Professor and Graduate Coordinator
Biological Sciences Department
California State Polytechnic University
Pomona, CA  91768-2557  USA
http://www.csupomona.edu/~djmoriarty/