Yup. One of my old coworkers from years ago, an OS programmer, used to joke that his mother was a computer. She had been a computer for the University economics department. When electronic computers came in, she became a keypunch operator.
He got a job as a systems programmer at the university following the standard hiring track of the day -- as an undergrad he figured out how to crack the OS so that he could under-bill his runs and get free mainframe time. When he was caught, he was offered a part-time student job on the sys-pro staff. I met him years later when he was a senior OS architect.
You would be impressed to know the proportion of Master/PhD students who are, in that sense, literal computers.
>Check these 4,000 pictures and count the number of green dots you see, store it in an excel table. If you see more than five, send me an email immediately.
>Put a 1 on it, then run it, then put a 2 on it and run it, then put a 3 on it and run it, go on until you reach 10,000. When you are done calculate positives/total and infer a p-value. If it is lower than or equal to 0.05, you're done, if it isn't continue until you reach 100,000. If it still higher than 0.05, we'll get you another PhD project.
>From the set {a, b, c, d, e, f, g ... z or more} pick two, run the experiment with those, document the result. Pick another two and continue until you exhaust all the possibilities.
I once stumbled across a group of friends doing just that, in order to complete a project. While amusing, it worked and it was all they could think to do at the time.
It made me wonder when checking out your link: If those friends could talk to a real Computer (person), would that Computer (person) be able to give them any practicable advice based on years of experience? Little tricks, or things to watch out for? Was any wisdom lost to the ages when the paid Computer role faded from the world at a broader scale?
He got a job as a systems programmer at the university following the standard hiring track of the day -- as an undergrad he figured out how to crack the OS so that he could under-bill his runs and get free mainframe time. When he was caught, he was offered a part-time student job on the sys-pro staff. I met him years later when he was a senior OS architect.