The Challenge

Using the PDP-8 Emulator, and using only the tools that a PDP-8 programmer would have used in the late 1960s, write a program that calculates and prints one hundred factorial. (100!).

Materials

• An iPad (hopefully modern)
• A keyboard that works with the iPad, bluetooth or otherwise.
• Codea, the Lua interpreter you can get from the App store.

Procedure

(Not in order)

• Read the Emulator documentation carefully, and follow the instructions.
• Get the emulator running.
• Watch the videos showing how to edit and compile.
• Read the manuals describing the PDP-8, the Symbolic Editor, and the PAL III assembler.
• Write a few sample programs to get your feet wet. e.g. Print the decimal value of the switch register.
• Design and write the program to calculate and print 100!
• Extra challenge: prompt for X and print X!.

Warning

Do not rush.

Update - Sep 3, 2021

Unclebob introduces the Clean Coders team to the challenge. We recorded the meeting: https://youtu.be/S1dchvHKMV8