1.8 KiB
1.8 KiB
| 1 | Question | Answer | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | What was the very first programming language Paul Graham used when he began learning to program on the IBM 1401? | He used an early version of Fortran on the IBM 1401. | The language we used was an early version of Fortran. You had to type programs on punch cards, then stack them in the card reader and press a button to load the program into memory and run it. |
| 3 | Which microcomputer did Paul Graham’s father finally agree to buy for him around 1980? | A TRS-80. | Computers were expensive in those days and it took me years of nagging before I convinced my father to buy one, a TRS-80, in about 1980. The gold standard then was the Apple II, but a TRS-80 was good enough. |
| 4 | What was the name of the startup Paul Graham co-founded that built software to create online stores? | Viaweb. | We started a new company we called Viaweb, after the fact that our software worked via the web, and we got $10,000 in seed funding from Idelle's husband Julian. |
| 5 | Which friend of Paul Graham was the person responsible for the 1988 Internet Worm? | Robert Tappan Morris (often referred to as “Robert Morris” or “Rtm” in the text). | I remember when my friend Robert Morris got kicked out of Cornell for writing the internet worm of 1988, I was envious that he'd found such a spectacular way to get out of grad school. |
| 6 | What was the title of the second Lisp book that Paul Graham wrote after finishing *On Lisp*? | *ANSI Common Lisp.* | So with my unerring nose for financial opportunity, I decided to write another book on Lisp. This would be a popular book, the sort of book that could be used as a textbook. I imagined myself living frugally off the royalties and spending all my time painting. (The painting on the cover of this book, ANSI Common Lisp, is one that I painted around this time.) |