Slopfest #38 · 1964 · Vienna

10 PRINT SLOP, 20 GOTO 10

A friendly new programming language arrived. The committee's first program is still running.

Photo of teleprinter paper piled knee-deep on a revolving café floor, the top sheet reading 'SLOPFEST #38 SLOP SLOP SLOP SLOP'

Venue: Donauturm, the revolving café, in its first year
Attendance: 610
Guest of honour: John Kemeny (tried to stop the committee's program and could not)
Fun fact: 2 lines of code, 11 km of output

What happened

The committee wrote a two-line program that printed the word SLOP and then did it again. It was fed to a teleprinter rented for the night. John Kemeny, visiting, tried to stop it and could not. The revolving café turned 26 times before anyone found the off switch, and by then the room was knee-deep in SLOP.

Elsewhere in 1964

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz run the first programs in BASIC at Dartmouth College, a language designed for beginners.

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