[zb]

As far as I can tell this group was essentially the world's last human-powered compiler. Their job was to translate what was effectively high-level code[1] into assembly language.

That's cool and all, but your compiler probably has far lower error rates, definitely has much higher repeatability, runs in seconds instead of... years, and doesn't cost tens of millions of dollars per year.

The idea that we should be imitating them is laughable. Automated compilers were light years ahead even at the time.

Maybe one day we'll see an article about the high-level code was designed. Probably not though.

[1] '"Our requirements are almost pseudo-code," says William R. Pruett, who manages the software project for NASA. "They say, you must do exactly this, do it exactly this way, given this condition and this circumstance."' - they may use words like 'specification' and 'requirements', but generally those terms are indicate documents that tell you what to do, not what to do and how to do it.