The prompt on search engine optimization and the kind explanation of the meaning of the mnemonic triggered some old memories of when I worked on computers. It was back in the 1970s though 80s. Some of the machines I worked on weighed tons, literally. The processor cabinets alone were 1500 pounds and there were three of them. To work on them, we had the aid of microfilm, about eight or nine pounds of them.

Mostly it was lists of signal and the paths they took. I will save you the details but they used mnemonics for signal names. For instance, atbe001, which stood for A register to B register enable for bit one. We got used to them quickly, first in our work. We knew exactly what each signal was for from its mnemonic or its name.

It is training I used quite a bit and became practiced at it, a lot.

Now, it is a little odd. Those tons of computers are now scrap. The knowledge, required then is mostly useless now.

Even so, occasionally I see a license plate and I say to myself, “Yeah that’s the signal that….” Recently, not so much. Even these memories are fading.

Occasionally, I do learn new mnemonics. However, retired and almost eighty, the just aren’t so important as they were.