Precision and Grace
July 08, 2020
Source: Wikipedia
Dateline: 1975 - Virginia Tech computer lab.
A stack of punched cards 9 inches high or higher is in my hand, each with one statement of code. After waiting in line at midnight, I insert them into the feeder for the giant computer.
Within a few minutes the printer sends out pages and pages and pages of repeated text ---- error --- error --- error .
It would not even read my name.
Somewhere, along the line, early on, I had made a syntax mistake or some other kind of error.
The computer was unforgiving ... and even into the days of DOS and, to some extent, even today, requiring precise language
Thank goodness Google often knows what I mean these days ... but intuition has its downside too.
Truth and precision seem to matter in the mathematical realm.
It sure makes me appreciate grace.
Nevertheless, it is still true that ...
" You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently." -Psalm 119:4 (ESV)
In case you want to know more about the age of punch cards: