What started you off on computer programming/coding?
Oct 14, 2015 15:26:41 GMT -5
⸗April⸗ likes this
Post by Azayles on Oct 14, 2015 15:26:41 GMT -5
I mention coding as separate to programming here because there are instances, such as web coding, where it might not *really* be considered programming in the traditional sense of ending up with a computer program 
I started of around late eighties/early nineties. My then stepdad brought home an Amstrad CPC 464 computer, and a ton of games for it. The games were on cassette tapes (hands up who remembers those, or indeed knows what they are) which you had to slot in, hit "play" (literally there was a play button) and the thing would whine and screech at you like one of them old 56K modems until your game was loaded.
Or not?
Sometimes. A lot of times actually, the tape would be ever so slightly damaged, and the game would be corrupt when it was loaded. You didn't know this until AFTER, which took anything up to half an hour, by which time the game was unplayable or the machine just straight up froze, and you'd wasted half an hour of your life.
The CPC series of computers back then ran CPC Basic, which was probably one of the first versions of Basic out there[citation needed]. You could write your own programs, too, and save them on blank cassette tapes. I ended up writing simple programs to draw random lines and symbols on the screen, a sort of "screen saver", then copying the cassette (I nearly typed disk lol) and giving it to my school mates. I even managed to write a noughts and crosses game on it, which I was immensely proud of!
Later on I got the Amstrad CPC6128, which not only had twice the amount of programmable memory (a whole 128kb!) but had a floppy disk drive! Now we're talking. A floppy disk, for all you youngsters still busy Googling to see what in sweet god a "cassette tape" is, is a rigid square thing.
Go figure.
128Kb of RAM sounds like naff all, but I tell you what, with the basic construct of the programming language used in them days, you'd have to go some to fill it! I *just* about managed to fill the older CPC464's 64K of RAM by making a Megaprogram containing my entire collection of demo programs.
About this same time I was combining a pre-existing hobby of Electronics with my hobby of computer programming by building a relay interface. I'd attach this to the computer, send strings of code to the appropriate port, and make relays click on and off. I could then use that to turn on and off lights or anything else I wanted.
My first actual Windows computer was a 086 IBM PC running Windows.... 2. yes, Windows 2.0 was the windows of choice for this machine! Sitting on top of DOS 5.0, before I managed to upgrade to 6.4. Later I managed to upgrade to Windows 3.0, which was nice because now we had program icons, and then Windows 3.1, which gave me mouse trails. Which was cool.
On this computer I learned to program in Qbasic, and that opened up a whole world for me because I had a colour screen, decent sound for them days, and a mouse and keyboard. My favourite programs to write were raytracing/raycasting programs (I still couldn't tell you the difference!) and programs which draw "plasma".
My first laptop was a 286 running Windows 3.1 again, but it had a monochrome screen. I used this for graphics work (you can probably see where this is going) so while I was busy designing icons and graphical elements and diagrams for my electronics work, it was all showing in shades of grey.
Later, quite a bit later in fact I got another laptop, this time with a colour screen, and all my lovely shades-of-grey images were now displayed in godawful shades of teal, magenta, and that ghastly dark yellow that noone likes.
Years later, I bought my first proper proper PC from a Computer Fair. it had Windows 98, and on this I learnt Visual basic, which I was able to find a free copy of online. I was working at this time, so while I didn't have internet at home, we did at work, so I'd browse in my down time.
I'd buy computer magazines and try out all the little demo programs on the enclosed CD, which was always great fun 'cause even then, you was never quite sure what you was gonna get.
Next I upgraded to a "Time" PC which I bought from Tesco for a cool one thousand quid. Lot of money then! (fair bit of money now!) And I learnt so much on that machine! I got internet for the home, (which was the first time we as a family had internet) and set about laying network cables every sodding where I learned about website coding, HTML, Javascript and CSS, and many years and many more computers later, I'm busy writing template code and CSS for Proboards forums
If you made it this far and are still reading, a colossal thumbs up, manly man hug and back slap for you! Bravo, and well done
Now, how did YOU start, dear reader?
I started of around late eighties/early nineties. My then stepdad brought home an Amstrad CPC 464 computer, and a ton of games for it. The games were on cassette tapes (hands up who remembers those, or indeed knows what they are
) which you had to slot in, hit "play" (literally there was a play button) and the thing would whine and screech at you like one of them old 56K modems until your game was loaded.Or not?
Sometimes. A lot of times actually, the tape would be ever so slightly damaged, and the game would be corrupt when it was loaded. You didn't know this until AFTER, which took anything up to half an hour, by which time the game was unplayable or the machine just straight up froze, and you'd wasted half an hour of your life.
The CPC series of computers back then ran CPC Basic, which was probably one of the first versions of Basic out there[citation needed]. You could write your own programs, too, and save them on blank cassette tapes. I ended up writing simple programs to draw random lines and symbols on the screen, a sort of "screen saver", then copying the cassette (I nearly typed disk lol) and giving it to my school mates. I even managed to write a noughts and crosses game on it, which I was immensely proud of!
Later on I got the Amstrad CPC6128, which not only had twice the amount of programmable memory (a whole 128kb!) but had a floppy disk drive! Now we're talking. A floppy disk, for all you youngsters still busy Googling to see what in sweet god a "cassette tape" is, is a rigid square thing.
Go figure.
128Kb of RAM sounds like naff all, but I tell you what, with the basic construct of the programming language used in them days, you'd have to go some to fill it! I *just* about managed to fill the older CPC464's 64K of RAM by making a Megaprogram containing my entire collection of demo programs.
About this same time I was combining a pre-existing hobby of Electronics with my hobby of computer programming by building a relay interface. I'd attach this to the computer, send strings of code to the appropriate port, and make relays click on and off. I could then use that to turn on and off lights or anything else I wanted.
My first actual Windows computer was a 086 IBM PC running Windows.... 2. yes, Windows 2.0 was the windows of choice for this machine! Sitting on top of DOS 5.0, before I managed to upgrade to 6.4. Later I managed to upgrade to Windows 3.0, which was nice because now we had program icons, and then Windows 3.1, which gave me mouse trails. Which was cool.
On this computer I learned to program in Qbasic, and that opened up a whole world for me because I had a colour screen, decent sound for them days, and a mouse and keyboard. My favourite programs to write were raytracing/raycasting programs (I still couldn't tell you the difference!) and programs which draw "plasma".
My first laptop was a 286 running Windows 3.1 again, but it had a monochrome screen. I used this for graphics work (you can probably see where this is going) so while I was busy designing icons and graphical elements and diagrams for my electronics work, it was all showing in shades of grey.
Later, quite a bit later in fact I got another laptop, this time with a colour screen, and all my lovely shades-of-grey images were now displayed in godawful shades of teal, magenta, and that ghastly dark yellow that noone likes.
Years later, I bought my first proper proper PC from a Computer Fair. it had Windows 98, and on this I learnt Visual basic, which I was able to find a free copy of online. I was working at this time, so while I didn't have internet at home, we did at work, so I'd browse in my down time.
I'd buy computer magazines and try out all the little demo programs on the enclosed CD, which was always great fun 'cause even then, you was never quite sure what you was gonna get.
Next I upgraded to a "Time" PC which I bought from Tesco for a cool one thousand quid. Lot of money then! (fair bit of money now!) And I learnt so much on that machine! I got internet for the home, (which was the first time we as a family had internet) and set about laying network cables every sodding where
I learned about website coding, HTML, Javascript and CSS, and many years and many more computers later, I'm busy writing template code and CSS for Proboards forums If you made it this far and are still reading, a colossal thumbs up, manly man hug and back slap for you! Bravo, and well done
Now, how did YOU start, dear reader?
