Twenty years ago

History

It has now been twenty years since I wrote this dissertation and sent it to my advisor. Many things have changed, but end-user programming is no closer to reality now than it was then.

Then

The dissertation, as it was written twenty years ago can be read here.

Now

The programming environment described in the dissertation can be used today. Computing devices have changed significantly, but the following steps can be used.

1. Obtain the VMware player and install it.
2. Use it to create a new virtual DOS machine.
3. Obtain FreeDOS and install it in the new virtual machine.
4. Download tool.zip and install it in your FreeDOS machine.
5. Follow the guides in the appendices of the dissertation.

[Added May 12, 2016]

A selection of sections that have value considered on their own, and/or which I have cited in other writings.

• 1.2.5 The Fundamental Theorem of Computing [a]
• 1.2.6 The power of modeling and abstraction [b]
• 2.1.1.1 Popper's three worlds [c] [d]
• 3.2.1 Origins of information and persistency [e]