Daniel D. McCracken Obit in New York Times

My first COBOL class, back at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL required us to buy McCracken's  Simplified Guide to Structure COBOL programming.  It was the best manual I ever had, bar none. McCracken was God.  I had one Other Manual which better explained the obscure Usage is Index business, but McCracken made the obscure Clear as crystal, and by the time I finished My COBOL career, the book was beat up and dog-eared. I never knew who McCracken was until I saw his obituary today, but he was my mentor and my right arm.  He started writing computer manuals in 1957, long before I ever came into EDP as it was often called in those days.  Electronic Data Processing.  Part of a lyric from Hair.  Then it was called MIS, then IS, then IT, and having been retired for lo, these six years, I don't even know what it's called anymore.  Totally out of touch.  Don't own a smart phone.  I have an IPOD touch that I use on the road for email, calendar and address book. My small friend keeps asking, "don't you have any apps?"  No dear, I don't.  Once upon a time, McCracken's paperback COBOL manual was all I needed.  


At one time, I could make COBOL along with a few ventures into Assembler subroutines do anything.  Bar codes?  No problemo. Manufacturing, retail, logistics.  Yowza!   I could make tables read tables with fancy indexing routines that were awesome.  I could "go to, depending on."  All thanks to McCracken.  I actually knew everything there was to know about COBOL.  Makes me feel like the last living dinosaur.  McCracken helped "ordinary practioners improve their computing skills."  The term "reference bible" was bandied about.  Yup.  That was McCracken.  Wish I had hung onto my book, just for the hell of it.  Now I'm sorry that I didn't write him a fan letter telling him how much I had learned from his book and how it had helped me


Today I discovered he was a fellow Montanan, born in Hughesville to a mining engineer father.  Not too many people have been born in Montana.  He was a father to seven children and always kept up with his field, going on to teach Java programming.  I recall discussing with a colleague whether we should learn Java.  Android was perhaps his last teaching endeavor.  What a giant among techies.  He taught until he died at 81.   

Daniel McCracken, you were a hell of a teacher.

 

 

 

Yesterday At the Mall

Coming back from Andover, and passing South Shore Plaza. I needed or thought I needed a new handbag. Used to buy them at the Coach Outlet in East Hampton and now we, alas, don't go there anymore since friends are gone.

Thought a reasonably priced straw handbag would be cool. Didn't see much online. A Douney and Bourke caught my eye Macy's web site, but I thought I better check it out.

The mall was mobbed, a circus. They must have been giving away free makeup at the Mac counter. Sale handbags piled up in a big higgelty-piggelty mess. Big icky handbags. Guess was the worst. Way too much chrome, chrone and gold and silver. I already have a gold bag, thanks. No Douney and Bourke bag like the one I was eyeing. Saw a couple I liked that were, shall we say, out of my price range. What was the old saying, champagne tastes on a beer budget. That's moi.

Ventured out into the mall. Even more people, almost chaotic. Strafed through a shitload of stores, no suitable bag. Filene's Basement a total bust. Lots of cheap ugly stuff that looked like it had been made for the Basement. They do that, you know. Make up stuff strictly to sell at outlets.

Waylaid by cell phone kiosk people, and then "natural handcream" guy. We all know I've been planting all week, and must confess planting without gloves. Had not groomed nails except to scrub. Hands looks like hell. Clean would be the best you could say. The guy takes my hand. Don't know if he visibly shuddered or not. These hands cook, scrub pots, dig in the soil, clean house. They haven't seen a professional manicure for years. I tell him, "sorry" and race off. Slink by the kiosk on the other side coming out of the Basement. In Boston, "Basement" always means Filene's.

Off to Lord and Taylor. After Macy's an oasis of calm. They have the Dooney and Bourke bag, but I decide it's too small. Straw bags must be out of style, like tailored blazers. The stuff you find out when you go shopping. The clerk, nice and helpful, shioot, I could have been at Nordstroms they were so helpful, said Kate Spade had some straw bags, but they had sold them all.

Find a cute leather bag for less. Sort of powder blue. Goes with summer clothes, right size, price is right. Get all kinds of discounts. Yay! Price is even righter, and another 15% off when I pay the bill. Practically giving the bag away.

S.O. ostensibly napping in the car is reading the car manual. When all else fails, read the manual. Or RTFM as we used to say in IS. Wish I had a dollar for every hour I poured over the IBM manuals. COBOL, operations, CICS, VSAM, DL/I. I used to know lots of cool stuff. Make those big blue mainframes dance. Yup.

Discovered there's a Cheesecake Factory at the Mall. I have never ever been to a Cheesecake Factory because there is always a 45 minute wait. Once on a rainy Monday at 5:00 p.m. at the Natick Mall there was a 45 minute wait. People are leaving with lots of doggie bags. Big bags. Place is a pig out factory, not what I need, I think ruefully, remembering lots of clothes for skinny 18 year olds. When I was that age, I had hardly any money to buy clothes. Maybe 40 - 50 dollars a month. We all wore black suede loafers. And other clothes, of course. Shame on you.

New idea for a novel. Just kind of came to me. Weird. Maybe I should go shopping more often.

Grapeshot