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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 21:47:38 UTC Robert McNees

   Margaret Hamilton, a pioneer of software engineering who led NASA's in-flight software team for the Apollo mission, was born #OTD in 1936.

   Image: NASA

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 21:48:25 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     “Here, Margaret is shown standing beside listings of the software developed by her and the team she was in charge of, the LM [lunar module] and CM [command module] on-board flight software team.”

     A 2016 MIT News story with background on the iconic photo.

     https://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 21:50:20 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Before NASA and the Apollo program, Margaret Hamilton worked with Edward Lorenz.

     From 1959-1961 she programmed weather simulations on his LGP-30 computer. Those projects were the precursors to his famous 1963 paper that marked the birth of chaos theory.

     https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-heroines-of-chaos-20190520/

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 21:54:39 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     You can see the actual Apollo 11 Guidance Computer source code on github! Margaret Hamilton wrote much of this code while overseeing the project.

     Software for the Command Module's Apollo Guidance Computer is in the folder "Comanche055;" software for the Lunar Module's AGC is in "Luminary099."

     (Repo by Chris Garry, code transcription by Ron Burkey.)

     https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 21:57:51 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Get in, losers. We're going to the moon.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 22:02:28 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     If you hunt through the code there are some great comments, including this passage from the lunar landing routine that ends with "OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD...".

     https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11/blob/a13539c7c5c482ffbbebf099ad3aada7d0f54fdf/Luminary099/THE_LUNAR_LANDING.agc

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 22:06:02 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     The master ignition routine is ”BURN_BABY_BURN--MASTER_IGNITION_ROUTINE."

     It's a reference to the catchphrase "Burn, baby! Burn!" used by R&B disc jockey Magnificent Montague in the 1950s-60s.

     http://www.magnificentmontague.com

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 17-Aug-2023 22:07:50 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     And then there's the jokes. The repo's closed issues are full of bad ones, but there are a few gems in there.

   • John Sundman (jsundman@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 18-Aug-2023 01:04:49 UTC John Sundman

     in reply to

     @mcnees Margaret Hamilton worked with Lorenz BEFORE she worked on the Apollo program? Holy Freekin' Cow! How did I not know this?

   • JMcD (mcd1979@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 18-Aug-2023 10:40:34 UTC JMcD

     in reply to

     @mcnees For those who don’t know, the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz was played by actress Margaret Hamilton

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 18-Aug-2023 13:44:06 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • JMcD

     @McD1979 I was curious to see if folks would notice the connection!

   • Chancerubbage (chancerubbage@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 11:55:03 UTC Chancerubbage

     in reply to

     • Guy English

     @mcnees @Gte

     I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!