US defence still using assembly language - cos it works
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36385839
If it works why try to fix it?
If it works why try to fix it?
beeb said:
The report said that the Department of Defence systems that co-ordinated intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft "runs on an IBM Series-1 Computer - a 1970s computing system - and uses eight-inch floppy disks".
"This system remains in use because, in short, it still works," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Valerie Henderson told the AFP news agency.
"However, to address obsolescence concerns, the floppy drives are scheduled to be replaced with secure digital devices by the end of 2017."
She added: "Modernisation across the entire Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications enterprise remains ongoing."
The report said that the Pentagon was planning to fully replace the system by the end of 2020.
According to the report, the US treasury also needed to upgrade its systems, which it said was using "assembly language code - a computer language initially used in the 1950s and typically tied to the hardware for which it was developed".
"This system remains in use because, in short, it still works," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Valerie Henderson told the AFP news agency.
"However, to address obsolescence concerns, the floppy drives are scheduled to be replaced with secure digital devices by the end of 2017."
She added: "Modernisation across the entire Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications enterprise remains ongoing."
The report said that the Pentagon was planning to fully replace the system by the end of 2020.
According to the report, the US treasury also needed to upgrade its systems, which it said was using "assembly language code - a computer language initially used in the 1950s and typically tied to the hardware for which it was developed".
A lot of military kit will run on old tech. As you're not surfing the web on it, or downloading dodgy apps it will still work like the day it was installed as long as the hardware holds out.
We I joined home computers were common, yet I worked on kit that used ferrite core store as memory (iron beads) and was programmed by paper tape. Still did the job it was designed to do though.
We I joined home computers were common, yet I worked on kit that used ferrite core store as memory (iron beads) and was programmed by paper tape. Still did the job it was designed to do though.
Where I worked they used a specialist control system that was very old, it ran on hard drives that had to be less 4 GB these became impossible to source , luckily we had a old school IT guy who modified solid state drives to work till a replacement system was fitted, it was interesting how quick a system can become obsolete due to unavailability of hardware even if it is still functional.
Everyone seems obsessed with replacing "old" kit If the old kit works and you can get the spares no issues.
Sometimes tried and tested is much better.
In my industry there's an obsession with getting rid of "old analogue kit"
Sometimes analogue is much better than its digital equivalent. I find most people who dislike old kit are just to stupid to understand or fix it.
Sometimes tried and tested is much better.
In my industry there's an obsession with getting rid of "old analogue kit"
Sometimes analogue is much better than its digital equivalent. I find most people who dislike old kit are just to stupid to understand or fix it.
130R said:
At least they are not using Windows. Clicks on red cross to cancel nuclear strike ..
Not sure if this an apocryphal story or not but I am pretty sure the licence agreement for Windows NT stated that it wasnt to be used for running nuclear power stations and the like.ETA - partly true. Says you can't use the Java bits: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc9767...
944fan said:
Its common in financial systems to be running old tech for the same reason, it works. Who wants to be the one to suggest a re-write and f
k up something like that.
Means if you an old school programmer and know Fortran or Cobol etc you can earn some serious wedge
Very serious wedge: there are some rather elderly programmers who carry out much of the system upkeep for the National Grid, and they can pretty much name their price!k up something like that.Means if you an old school programmer and know Fortran or Cobol etc you can earn some serious wedge
I didn't realise that Fortran was becoming prized though - I may need to revise my university notes.
Almost every company\client I've worked at has had at least one legacy system running on 20+ year old hardware\software that people are just too scared to replace. This includes big banks, multi-nationals, the works. Hell the majority of the worlds ATM's still run on Windows XP as far as I am aware and that's 15 years old. It's actually pretty rife.
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