As far as I can tell this group was essentially the world's last human-powered compiler. Their job was to translate what was effectively high-level code[1] into assembly language.<p>That's cool and all, but <i>your</i> compiler probably has far <i>lower</i> error rates, definitely has much <i>higher</i> repeatability, runs in seconds instead of... years, and doesn't cost tens of millions of dollars per year.<p>The idea that <i>we</i> should be imitating <i>them</i> is laughable. Automated compilers were light years ahead even at the time.<p>Maybe one day we'll see an article about the high-level code was designed. Probably not though.<p>[1] '"Our requirements are almost pseudo-code," says William R. Pruett, who manages the software project for NASA. "They say, you must do exactly this, do it exactly this way, given this condition and this circumstance."' - they may use words like 'specification' and 'requirements', but generally those terms are indicate documents that tell you what to do, not what to do and how to do it.