fights4users:

Learning about programing for Tron fics by just watching other 80s movies about computers…

Look— it is in some ways helpful because learning modern computing/programing basics won’t really work here. Also it’s a method I 100% recommend especially when writing different time periods, watching movies and other media about/in that time does wonders. Another tip is antiqueing. From literally old as dust to cool retro- knowing what people actually had and interacted with on a day to day basis is a good help.

Yeah! Gathering references from contemporary sources helps it sound so much more credible –even though I don’t worry TOO much about how to work those references together because… honestly, like most fiction about computers, Tron takes place in another universe where programming really does not work anything like in real life, lol

…I’m working on a Tron 82/Star Trek TOS crossover, and I won’t deny the technology is a challenge

because in the Tron universe, hacking a computer looks like “sitting at a keyboard furiously typing full words that look nothing like programming language while surrounded by nerdy paraphernalia and making witty comments”

while in the Trek universe, hacking a computer looks like: “So, computer. Do you admit that there are always two possible answers, Yes and No? And, as a computer, you MUST be capable of either, depending on the circumstances? You admit that this is the entire purpose of your binary code? and therefore, by simulating a test that is not Pass/Fail, but Fail Only, you are acting in violation of your own core directives!?”… (“error error error paradox … rebooting… CONGRATULATIONS cadet Kirk you win the Kobayashi Maru”)

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