BASIC
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Not so long ago, software was primarily transmitted on physical media, such as cassette tapes, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed in by users seems alien now. But there is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners could make their way from computer to computer and from person to person: as memorized pieces of code, like a software virus whose host is a human rather than a machine. | Not so long ago, software was primarily transmitted on physical media, such as cassette tapes, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs. The notion that programs would routinely be published in print and typed in by users seems alien now. But there is an even stranger way that programs, particularly short ones such as BASIC one-liners could make their way from computer to computer and from person to person: as memorized pieces of code, like a software virus whose host is a human rather than a machine. | ||
| − | The dream of total recall of a computer program appears in science fiction. In Cory Doctorow's short story "0wnz0red," the programmer Murray spirals downwards in his code quality after the apparent death of his only friend. When this friend returns, having actually hacked his own body and mind into near-perfection, Murray is attains similarly superhuman capabilities. Among these is the ability to precisely remember large amounts of text, including technical documentation of code, which "he closed his eyes and recalled, with perfect clarity." Murray's powers of recall even extend beyond human language. As the story ends, Murray "had the laptop open and began to rekey the entire codebase, the eidetic rush of perfect memory dispelled all his nervousness, leaving him cool and calm as the sun set over the Mission." | + | The dream of total recall of a computer program appears in science fiction. In Cory Doctorow's short story "0wnz0red," a programmer, Murray spirals downwards in terms of his life and his code quality after the apparent death of his only friend. When this friend returns, having actually hacked his own body and mind into near-perfection, Murray is attains similarly superhuman capabilities. Among these is the ability to precisely remember large amounts of text, including technical documentation of code, which "he closed his eyes and recalled, with perfect clarity." Murray's powers of recall even extend beyond human language. As the story ends, Murray "had the laptop open and began to rekey the entire codebase, the eidetic rush of perfect memory dispelled all his nervousness, leaving him cool and calm as the sun set over the Mission." |
Doctorow's story makes it clear that the ability to memorize a large program is a superpower; that is, it is not an ordinary human ability and for many programmers, it would be a truly awesome power. At the same time, the story's treatment of the human body and mind as machines that can be mastered by a programmer and owned (or even 0wnz0red) by an adversary, is consistent with the idea that memorizing code is enslaving one mind's to the machine, treating it as a storage peripheral. For many programmers, however, memorizing one-liners (not the entire codebase) is both possible and useful. And in the case of home computing in the early 1980s, it could be advantageous for someone to memorize a one-liner, or a handful of short programs. A memorized one-liner could be typed into a friend's computer, initiating a kind of two-way cultural economy; in exchange for sharing a particularly interesting or visually affecting program, one earned prestige, or street cred, a currency a teenager in 1982 would surely appreciate. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the mass of these short programs worth memorizing were of course in BASIC. (See "Remarks: One-Liners" for several examples.) And because programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements anyway, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize a program that contained two statements in that language, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>. | Doctorow's story makes it clear that the ability to memorize a large program is a superpower; that is, it is not an ordinary human ability and for many programmers, it would be a truly awesome power. At the same time, the story's treatment of the human body and mind as machines that can be mastered by a programmer and owned (or even 0wnz0red) by an adversary, is consistent with the idea that memorizing code is enslaving one mind's to the machine, treating it as a storage peripheral. For many programmers, however, memorizing one-liners (not the entire codebase) is both possible and useful. And in the case of home computing in the early 1980s, it could be advantageous for someone to memorize a one-liner, or a handful of short programs. A memorized one-liner could be typed into a friend's computer, initiating a kind of two-way cultural economy; in exchange for sharing a particularly interesting or visually affecting program, one earned prestige, or street cred, a currency a teenager in 1982 would surely appreciate. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the mass of these short programs worth memorizing were of course in BASIC. (See "Remarks: One-Liners" for several examples.) And because programmers typically had to memorize certain BASIC statements anyway, such as <code>? CHR$(147)</code> (which clears the screen), it was not much of a leap to memorize a program that contained two statements in that language, such as <code>10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10</code>. | ||
