/ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ Refers to emulations of
way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or
implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; especially if
such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or
parodies, written mostly for hack value, of more "serious"
designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing
utility was the "pnch(6)" or "bcd(6)" program on V7 and other
early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of
text argument and display the corresponding pattern in
punched card code. Other well-known retrocomputing hacks
have included the programming language INTERCAL, a
JCL-emulating shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating
editor named 029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware
emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old,
sourceless Zork binary running.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
rete « RETI « Retrieve « retrocomputing » retronym » return from interrupt » return from the dead
