(j3.2006) Dan McCracken

[Walt Brainerd]

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 7:27 AM, Bill Long <longb at cray.com> wrote:

>
>
> On 8/21/11 5:50 PM, jeanne-martin at comcast.net wrote:
>
>> According to the New York Times, Daniel D. McCracken, the first
>> best-selling author of books that taught people how to use computers,
>> died on July 30 in New York, age 81.
>>
>>
> A name from the distant past.  Thanks for posting, Jeanne.
>
>
> He taught the first computer class I attended, when I had a summer job
>> at General Electric. Up until then I had encountered no academic mention
>> of computers except in a number theory class where they stated that
>> number systems with bases other than 10 were useful in computers.
>>
>> His first book was "Digital Computer Programming" where he discussed a
>> mythical computer called "TYDAC". His biggest seller was "A Guide to
>> Fortran Programming", published in 1961 and selling 300,000 copies.
>>
>
I was one of those that learned Fortran by taking McCracken's book home
over the weekend and trying it out on Monday. 1963, CDC 1604, Naval
Postgraduate School.

>
>>
> Indeed, McCracken's book was (initially) the book assigned for my intro
> programming class as  college Freshman.  Until the instructor came in the
> first day of class, explained that there were 3 types of text books:
>
> 1) ones that teach you useful things
> 2) ones that teach you nothing
> 3) ones that teach you wrong things,
>
> and declared that McCracken's book was type 3.  We were told to return it
> to the bookstore and purchase the IBM FORTRAN Language Reference Manual
> instead. That was our new "textbook".    In retrospect, my first step down
> the slippery slope of involvement with technical language specifications.
>  For which McCracken was, quite unintentionally, a key enabler.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>
>
>>
> --
> Bill Long                                           longb at cray.com
> Fortran Technical Support    &                 voice: 651-605-9024
> Bioinformatics Software Development            fax:   651-605-9142
> Cray Inc./Cray Plaza, Suite 210/380 Jackson St./St. Paul, MN 55101
>
>
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-- 
Walt Brainerd
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