On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:21:37 -0800, Neeum Zawan wrote:

> On 01/20/10 09:32, Captain Jack wrote:
>> I've got a quiz I made that I run candidates (for programming jobs)
>> through now, and the first one I put on there is "How does an e-mail
>> system work? What happend from the time one person hits 'Send' and the
>> other person sees a message in the In-Box?" I get the most amazing
>> amount of hemming and hawing over that one.
> 
> 	I hope someone mentioned something about a series of tubes...

LOL

As it happens, there was a problem with my last paycheck's direct deposit 
(we changed providers, and my bank had been bought, so the routing number 
changed, but the old DD provider didn't seem to mind; the new one, 
however, did), so I had to go to the office to pick up an actual paper 
paycheck to take to the bank.

We hit the drive-through to make the deposit.  And we saw one of the 
actual "tubes" used in the early Internet!  No kidding!  It uses a vacuum 
to suck a packet that's got a payload in it into the bank.  I was really 
surprised at how primitive the checksum system was (well, OK, there 
wasn't one, but a voice spoke through a magic box and confirmed delivery 
of the packet).

But man was it slow compared to the modern Internet.  But it was quite 
nostalgic. :-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message