American History 1988
Chapter 103 - 97 Please Insert Coins!

Chapter 103: Chapter 97 Please Insert Coins!

"I’m Dean Price," Dean said, looking up at the podium in front of him, where two senior professors were discussing some cutting-edge computer technologies.

He lowered his voice slightly, "So... buddy, you are...?"

"Adam Barton," the white young man sitting next to them said with a smile, extending his fist.

"Nice to meet you, Adam." Dean bumped fists with him. "You know me?"

"David said you needed some help, but this public lecture is about to end, and I haven’t waited for the person who needs help.

Just as I was about to leave..." Adam glanced at them, "two guys who arrived late, sneaking into the classroom."

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, we got the time wrong. But as David said, I do need some help."

"About the compatibility issues between the IRC protocol and the UDP protocol?" Adam’s gaze was fixed on the two professors at the podium, seemingly lost in thought.

"Yes, I’ve been trying to design them, but there seems to be a small logical issue." Since Adam was introduced by David, Dean asked for advice with a humble attitude.

"Did you bring the stuff?" Adam glanced at the computer in front of Dean.

"Of course," Dean said, pulling out a floppy disk from his backpack and carefully inserting it into the computer. As a geek, he always carried these things with him.

"It’s this piece of code," Dean showed Adam the problematic part.

"OK~" Adam nodded thoughtfully, "I can help you out a bit with this problem, but you need to prove yourself."

"What?" Dean and Marcus looked at each other, not quite understanding what Adam meant.

"David said you have excellent grades, a GPA close to perfect, and your talent in computers is astonishing." Adam turned his head to stare directly at him, "But I need you to prove it to me, like your talent with computers."

After saying this, Adam turned his gaze back to the two professors at the podium, "A phone or a computer will do, you get what I mean, Dean."

Following his line of sight, Dean saw the computer and landline phone in front of the professors at the podium. "Adam, is this your condition for helping?"

"You could say that, of course, it’s also a test," Adam said with a mysterious smile. "Come on, prove it to me, and I’ll give you the answer to the code problem tomorrow."

A test? Dean didn’t see how this was related to asking for help with the code. But he did need help, and this could save him a lot of time.

Alright, Dean had to be a bad boy once more, and then Adam would solve the problem for him, so that neither owed the other anything.

"Adam, I hope you will keep your promise." Dean took out another floppy disk from his backpack, which contained a little trick he had made.

Seeing his action, a faint anticipation appeared in Adam’s eyes. "Of course, the reputation of PBK, testified by the President and the Supreme Justice of America."

Dean didn’t delve into what PBK meant in Adam’s mouth, but Marcus beside him looked at Adam in surprise.

Adam didn’t care about their reactions; his full attention was on Dean’s movements.

"This is a little program I wrote before, called Stealth," Dean said without stopping his work, entering the local network of the computer room.

"Just a few months ago, I used it to catch a thief. Ironically, now the roles have reversed, and I’m the one playing the role of the thief."

"Cool name, isn’t it?" Adam didn’t miss any detail in Dean’s hands, proving that he was becoming more and more eager to see what would happen next.

"Ah-ha~ Your reassurance eases my sense of mischief a bit. I hope the professors won’t give us a D for our course later," Dean said irritably, glancing at Adam, who simply shrugged as if to say "hurry up."

"Alright, I’m in. Now we need to find the corresponding ID number." Dean looked up at the podium for a moment, finding the number he was looking for.

"Dean, I don’t want to interrupt you. But if you don’t take action soon, the professors are going to leave the classroom," Adam noted, as the public class was nearing its end and everyone was preparing to pack up and leave.

"OK, almost done!" Dean’s fingers moved quickly over the keyboard, modifying data on the switch.

"Dean..." Adam’s voice trailed off.

"Done!" At the last moment as everyone got up, Dean pressed the Enter key on the keyboard.

Ding-dong~ Just as Winton and Donald Knuth were about to stand up to thank everyone, the fax machine next to the podium, which had a connected landline, started ringing.

It was a new all-in-one machine introduced by HP in the past two years, not only equipped with printing and faxing capabilities but also integrated with a landline telephone.

However, it usually did not ring because the feature was somewhat superfluous, and this was, after all, a microcomputer classroom.

Winton and Donald Knuth exchanged glances. Then the former shrugged and picked up the handset.

"Hello~"

"Welcome to the MCI payphone system, state-to-state long-distance 88 cents, local calls 11 cents, please deposit coins!"

What The F*ck? If it weren’t for the fact that he was in the classroom, Winton nearly blurted out a national treasure of a curse.

"Hahaha~ hahaha~" Standing beside him, Donald Knuth suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter, "Winton~ hahaha..."

The expressions and gestures of the two professors made the students in the classroom cast curious glances their way.

"OK, let me see which little rascal it is?" Winton had already figured out that this was a prank.

As a godfather of the internet, someone had managed to hack a classroom computer right under his nose. Honestly, he was curious about which of the seated students it could be.

"Hahaha... Winton, you’re the Vice President of MCI! I didn’t expect them to chase you here to collect fees. Wow~ do you never pay for your calls?" Donald Knuth was over the moon with joy; it had been a long time since he’d encountered something this amusing.

Seeing one of the professors sit down and begin typing rapidly, Dean felt an uneasy premonition.

"Hey~ Dean, congratulations on passing the test. You’re now a provisional member of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK). However, we’ll talk about membership details later," Adam, seeing that the jig was up, patted Dean on the shoulder and then quietly slipped out the back door.

"Shit! Dean, did you hear that? The professor’s name is Winton!" Marcus, belatedly realizing something, thought it couldn’t be such a coincidence. That bastard Adam must have done it on purpose!

However, Dean was too busy to pay them any attention; he was desperately trying to log out of the system and erase his tracks. Mother F*cker, the plug was too far away; he couldn’t pull the power in time.

"Aha, gotcha." It took Winton less than a minute to find his target.

Whoosh, the computer screen in front of Dean went black.

"Shit! I’ve got stuff to do, I’m heading out~ Dean!" Marcus, picking up his backpack, followed Adam and sneakily slipped out the back door.

"Hey~ I see you there. The student at the door, would you like to chat?"

Just as Dean was about to make his escape, the professor’s voice from the stage halted his footsteps.

It was over, Dean lamented in his heart, hoping he wouldn’t be reported to the school.

"Dear professor, what if I said this was all a misunderstanding, would you believe me?" Dean put on an innocent smile.

...

At Stanford’s Computer Science Building, in Professor Donald Knuth’s office.

"Quite an interesting toy, the programming style is totally different from current mainstream logic." Winton turned the computer screen towards Donald Knuth, who immediately began studying it with great enthusiasm.

While the two of them discussed the novelty from the floppy disk, Dean sat perfectly still on the sofa, daring not to move.

He had not quite recovered from the shock that he had played a prank on the very "father of the internet," and during a lecture, no less.

Dean had never met Professor Donald Knuth before, but of course, he had heard of Vinton Cerf.

Before coming to America, where he had been for nearly a year, he also followed the developments in the computer science field.

The name Vinton Cerf often appeared in technology magazines; while he was familiar with the name, he had never seen the man in person.

That’s why when Adam made that request, Dean didn’t think much of it and agreed. Well, now this legendary internet pioneer was sitting not far from him.

"Dean, is it?" After seeing the culprit behind the coin insertion, Winton turned his gaze to its owner.

"Yes, Professor Cerf. I didn’t expect it to be you; this is quite an awkward encounter." Dean spread his hands to show his innocence, "As you know, students from the computer science department look up to you as an idol."

"Wow, you have a very unique way of fandom," Donald Knuth, who enjoyed stirring up excitement, chuckled from the sidelines.

"It was just a misunderstanding. I needed a little favor from someone, and then this happened," Dean summarized the events, but he didn’t reveal Adam’s name.

He still had a coding problem to solve, and the deal wasn’t finished; Dean needed to adhere to these little rules.

"Alright, I’m interested to see what kind of code has given you such trouble. Is this a convenient time?" Although Winton was now the Vice President of Information at MCI, he always came across as very approachable.

From the content on the floppy disk, Winton knew the young man in front of him was talented, and he was somewhat interested.

"Of course," Dean agreed without any hesitation. If these two heavyweights could drop a few casual tips, his problem might just be solved.

After handing over another floppy disk, Dean waited expectantly for their feedback. A bit of advice would be most welcome.

"Instant messaging, transmission protocols... seems there’s also some system-level voice capture programming?" Winton roughly guessed the purpose of the code after a quick glance, "Is this part of the design code for an instant messaging software?"

"Yes, it’s different from the Plato System. Besides public channels, it supports private person-to-person communication.

Of course, I’ve also added some other features. File sharing, voice calls... etc., but they’re still in the design phase."

"Good~" Donald Knuth and Winton exchanged a look, both seeing the surprise in each other’s eyes. "We’re impressed by your creativity. How about we talk a bit about its design?"