You could also optimize how your program loads and runs — working with the grain of the machinery. Magnetic drum memory, a forerunner to the modern hard drive, was the primary memory for the 650, and it was very slow. So your goal as a programmer was to minimize the rotational latency of the 12,500 RPM drum machine such that all of your code and data would be easily within reach of the CPU at the right moment during execution. You wanted perfect synchronization between the CPU cycles of the mainframe and these drum memory rotations.
Computer science was forged here, at the rough intersection of mathematics and mechanical engineering. It could be completely understood by one very smart person. That is no longer true. Knuth and the programmers of that era had to be smarter than the IBM 650. They understood every vacuum tube and control switch. We are no longer smarter than our computers in this way.
This is how you do an email introduction: 1) Ask both parties, in advance, if they are comfortable with the introduction (which includes making sure they know why it’s happening) and if the timing works for them 2) send an email to both parties once you’ve received that confirmation. Keep it short.