You’re just teasing it. How would you like it if somebody did that to you? …Or, wait, maybe someone did, and that’s why you’re doing it. You can stop.
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My Dad used to work for Sumlock Comptometer, a manufacturer of mechanical and electro-mechanical adding machines. One thing he noticed was that many of the faults he had to fix involved the keys between one and five. Watching the operators, he learned that, to avoid moving their hands all day and tiring out their arms, they had switched to working in base five. This allowed them to reach all the necessary keys without stretching for them.
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Divide by zero would probably trigger a 1202.
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“Why? Why was I programmed to feel pain?”
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It’s funny how the “bleep, blorp, error, does not compute” 'cause the master control computer/hostile robot to explode with sophomore survey course logic conundrum’s trope only became established for digital computers(or at least actors in cardboard boxes with lights and silver paint pretending); when it was actually the mechanical ones that might do themselves physical harm not fixable with a quick reboot when given malicious input to chew on.
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Also see 'Halt and Catch Fire" for microprocessors:
you know what really grinds my gears?
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My Dad sold the earliest electronic calculators made by Sony Business Equipment. They were about half again as big as a CPA style mechanical calculator. The first thing I did was divide one by zero. Every digit element of every number in the NIXIE tube display lit up and required a Clear All keystroke to restart. When my Dad went to the regional office he showed it to the techs who decided it was a great way to test the display.The standard Sony calculator cost $500 with a one number memory add a square root key for $100. Sold like hotcakes for a few years till the first pocket sized calculators appeared. Sony gave up on that market almost immediately.
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Good Gawd! NOW I remember why I wanted to push buttons when I grew up. Dad had one of these in his office.
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