Tom Van Vleck

Software Engineering Stories

Essays on software quality and engineering. (09/24/10, 10K, 18 files, 5 images)

• Three Questions About Each Bug You Find (04/12/11, 13K, 1 comic)

• Cleaning up the Basement in the Dark (06/04/10, 7K, 1 comic)

• It Can Be Done (03/13/11, 7K, 1 picture)

• The Evolution of My Thinking (03/01/06, 8K)

• Nasty Question (02/01/05, 7K)

• A Few Minutes' Discussion (03/01/06, 8K)

• Notebooks (12/13/10, 6K)

• NASA's $30,000 drops of Epoxy (06/04/10, 5K)

• The Risks of Electronic Communication (02/01/05, 13K)

• Painting the Wall (02/01/05, 5K)

• When the River Is Polluted (02/01/05, 5K)

• Structure Marking (04/14/09, 16K, 1 figure)

• Perfection Pills (06/04/10, 5K, 1 comic)

• Counterpoint (06/04/10, 5K)

• Check Marks (04/14/09, 6K)

• Software Engineering Proverbs (08/09/11, 16K)

• Software Engineering Reading list (06/04/10, 19K)

• Hellandizing (02/17/06, 7K)

• Gauss's Algorithm (06/04/10, 6K, 1 picture)

• Management Tactics (07/07/05, 6K)

• The Bulgarian Lesson (01/16/07, 5K)

• Van Vleck's Comb (07/17/10, 8K)

• Interviewing and Hiring (11/01/08, 18K)

• Darwin (11/04/11, 6K)

• Dumbo Management, Blender Management, Cargo Cults, and the Flying Trapeze (11/29/10, 8K)

Tools

• Javascript Password Generator: Generate pronounceable passwords in Javascript. (01/16/12, 5K) updated

• Tools for web site management and security. Source programs in Perl and C. (06/04/10, 16K)

  • webtrax.pl: Analyze and report on a web server log.

  • headpage.cgi: Return an HTML page by expanding a template.

  • cal.cgi: Display a calendar, loading boxes from a control file.

  • gpw.c: Generate pronounceable passwords.

• Demonstration programs in Java. An interesting new language. (03/18/11, 5K, 5 applets)

  • Globe: Display the globe from any viewpoint. (03/18/11, 7K)

  • Pie Chart: Display a pie chart. (01/25/11, 8K)

  • Diskpie: Display a directory's disk usage. (06/04/10, 6K)

  • The I Ching: Display the I Ching, or Book of Changes. (03/18/11, 5K)

  • Password Generator: Generate pronounceable passwords. (05/23/11, 8K)

  • Say: A very personal fortune cookie program. (03/18/11, 4K)

• How I Prepare Pictures for the Web With Photoshop What I've learned so far. Version 13. (01/16/10, 20K, 5 images)

• How I Filter Spam It takes some work, but it's worth it. Version 8. (01/01/12, 20K, 3 images)

Multics

I worked on the Multics operating system for almost 16 years in the 60s and 70s, and edit a web site describing the system, its history, and its builders.

• "The Multics System Programming Process"
  Charlie Clingen and I wrote an invited paper (07/31/10, 21K, 1 picture) for COMPCON 78 about our team's development process. It was reprinted in the IEEE Tutorial on Software Maintenance.

Computer Security

• Timing Channels. Covert channels are a concern in the design of secure operating systems; they allow information to leak between security domains. I wrote a short paper about an early exploitation of a timing channel, and some thoughts on the star property. (03/14/11, 12K, 2 pictures)

• How the Air Force broke Multics security in the early 70s. (03/13/11, 18K, 1 picture)

• Project names and Borges numbers. Since we're talking about security, you may enjoy this story. (03/01/06, 7K)

• Home Computer Security Advice The bare minimum that everybody should do. Version 13. (01/25/12, 22K) updated

Professional

• Here is my résumé. (08/12/11, 20K)

Stories & Humor

• How I got started in computers .. in a suburban basement in the 1950s (09/12/11, 7K, 2 pictures)

• 1401s I have known. Includes HELLO WORLD (01/20/11, 9K, 3 images)

• The IBM 7070. An interesting and little-known machine (07/18/11, 11K, 2 pictures)

• The IBM 7094 and CTSS. MIT's two 7094s. (09/30/11, 46K, 3 pictures)

• The IBM 360/67 and CP/CMS. My experiences with the ancestor of VM/370. (02/24/11, 18K)

• The History of Electronic Mail. Early electronic mail and instant messaging. (01/23/12, 30K) updated

• Real Programmers Don't Write Specs. I wrote this in 1982, based on people I knew. (06/04/10, 6K, 1 picture)

• Software Engineering Comix. Seven b&w comic strips for programmers. (03/01/06, 5K)

• Mulvaney on Bomb Disposal. World War II humor (08/02/11, 10K, 39 pictures)

• Home Terminals. Forty years of logging in from home. (07/30/11, 22K, 2 pictures)

• Borges and I. How I learned to appreciate the master. (02/01/05, 7K)

• The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Tuesday, October 17, 1989, at 5:04 PM. (06/04/10, 10K, 1 picture)

Reference

You never know when you might need to know some of this stuff.

• The Figures of the Syllogism .. as described by Petrus Hispanius. (12/05/11, 9K)

• Borges' Animals .. a classification as good as any. (03/01/06, 5K)

Personal

• Index Gallery (06/04/10, 12K, 29 images)

• Famous Van Vlecks (12/13/10, 13K, 3 pictures)

• Favorite Places on the Web (05/13/11, 17K)

• Feijoada (02/09/06, 6K)

• Venice (06/04/10, 9K, 4 pictures)

• Mushroom Hunting (06/17/10, 8K, 4 pictures)

• The Funnies (06/04/10, 8K, 2 pictures)

• My online journal (blog)