09.25.07
Bridge memories at IBM
I was graduated from college in June 1961 and worked that summer at the IBM General Product Development Laboratory in Endicott NY. I was working on the IBM 1410, the newest model of the 1400 line of computers, succeeded by the 360 line with a totally different architecture. (In fact, the president of IBM had to go personally to the 1400 development group and assign its members to various different projects and locales because they wouldn’t stop working on it after the 36o was announced: they were determined that the 1400 would live.)
I recall intensive bridge games among the programmers. This was, in general, before computer science degrees, and the programmers had degrees in a variety of subjects: biology, music, philosophy, English, and the like. But they were all inclined to enjoy puzzles and algorithms, and bridge was a natural.
The games were played at lunchtime, and programmers were on the clock, so the dummy shuffled and dealt for the dealer: as soon as one hand ended, we could pick up the next hand’s cards and immediately start bidding. Occasionally, if the struggle was close, one would volunteer to take everyone’s time cards and clock them in while we finished the rubber. (I believe the statute of limitations has expired on this misdemeanor.)
Those were good games. And I continued to play the following year in graduate school in math, until I discovered Go.
