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How old did you start programming?

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  • R Ravi Bhavnani

    Started programming at 21 Got my own computer at 25 (IBM-AT, 6MHz, 512MKb RAM, 20Mb hard disk) First programming language: Pascal /ravi

    My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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    micmanos
    wrote on last edited by
    #127

    Started at 14 using a home micro branded "Laser ..." something that run a BASIC v1.1 version. It had no storage medium, connected on the TV and had 32KB ram. It's speed must have been lower than 50KHz. Later i got my first XT Desktop which had two 5.25" floppy drives, 14" monitor, CGA (4 color 320x200), 512KB ram, NEC-V20 CPU and tripple speed configuration (changeable by Alt+Ctrl+1/2/3) at 4.77, 8 and 10MHz. Up to this moment (I'm 34), I still try to figure out if there was any app/game that runned too fast at 10MHz and would require a slowdown at 4.77 ??????:laugh:

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    • E Ernest Laurentin

      Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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      topcatalpha
      wrote on last edited by
      #128

      Lol, i was also 12 when i had my VIC20 and on my 14 th i had a Commodore 64.. writing basic, peeking and pooking was my live... :-) greetz.. Kurt

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      • R Ravi Bhavnani

        Started programming at 21 Got my own computer at 25 (IBM-AT, 6MHz, 512MKb RAM, 20Mb hard disk) First programming language: Pascal /ravi

        My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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        Fla_Golfr
        wrote on last edited by
        #129

        I got started when I was 20 in the service, didn't have Personal Computers back then. Only mainframes. Carc punches and readers, and tape. Using CoBOL and FORTRAN. Still making a pretty good living at coding. However, I can say I have put more than 20 applications into production, i.e., out the developer door where the "owner/client" could sell it to someone for usage and make a profit. I found that a lot of younger coders now-a-days are smart, got their certificates, etc. and they know their subject matter, but it seems like that once they have identified the saddle, bridal, and horse, they don't know how it all goes together so they can ride the horse, so to speak. I guess and more important question is how many actual out the door to be sold applications have you done and are you still doing it?

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        • E Ernest Laurentin

          Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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          ClockMeister
          wrote on last edited by
          #130

          I started programming calculators back in the mid 70's when at Georgia Tech. First programming course was EE1010 - a FORTRAN course using the IBM 026 Key Punch coding for a Cyber-74 Mainframe. First computer I owned was a Timex/Sinclair 1000 (around 1979 or so) Bought original IBM PC (4.77Mhz, 1 360K Floppy Drive, 64K on motherboard) - Amdek Color II (CGA) monitor. Wrote a lot of code on that beast. Eventually put a 10MB Rodime hard drive in it. Man were those the days! -CB :)

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          • M micmanos

            Started at 14 using a home micro branded "Laser ..." something that run a BASIC v1.1 version. It had no storage medium, connected on the TV and had 32KB ram. It's speed must have been lower than 50KHz. Later i got my first XT Desktop which had two 5.25" floppy drives, 14" monitor, CGA (4 color 320x200), 512KB ram, NEC-V20 CPU and tripple speed configuration (changeable by Alt+Ctrl+1/2/3) at 4.77, 8 and 10MHz. Up to this moment (I'm 34), I still try to figure out if there was any app/game that runned too fast at 10MHz and would require a slowdown at 4.77 ??????:laugh:

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            prst123
            wrote on last edited by
            #131

            hi i wrote my first program in BASIC when i was 13 year old . but go my own pc when i was 19 year old.

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            • E Ernest Laurentin

              Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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              rkleinen
              wrote on last edited by
              #132

              - High School Freshman (1975) - No PCs available as far as I knew - Mainframe: with teletype stations (3 of them in the room) - Language: some sort of basic - Anyone remember this? 10 REM First Program 20 Print "Hello world?" 30 END - Better get that line right the first time or you would see: "Syntax error" - And the results were displayed on that ugly green bar paper. Am I alone in this memory?

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              • E Ernest Laurentin

                Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                adudley256
                wrote on last edited by
                #133

                16 years old, using VBA in excel, my first line of code: x = shell("winfile.exe") All to get Duke Nukem 3D working on the library 486 running 3.11, can't remember what version of Excel it was. Then some serious time spent in config.sys and autoexec.bat just to get the CD rom working, MSCDEX anybody? But then I moved onto VB3... feel the power.

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                • D Dan Neely

                  I started with a trash80-color at around the same age. Didn't really go beyond ascii art generation until 5 or 6 years later in highschool with turbopascal.

                  -- Rules of thumb should not be taken for the whole hand.

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                  Hitesh Seth
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #134

                  I think I was 9 or 10 years old when I first programmed in Basic. I had then a 486, 40MHz, which I was overclocked to 66MHz, which was later again overclocked to 100MHz , 272MB HDD, 8MB RAM

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                  • R Ravi Bhavnani

                    Started programming at 21 Got my own computer at 25 (IBM-AT, 6MHz, 512MKb RAM, 20Mb hard disk) First programming language: Pascal /ravi

                    My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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                    mobilemobile
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #135

                    It's funny, the teaser on my CodeProject email said "Fourteen, on cards, using Fortran.", which is pretty much where I started on a IBM/1130 -- it had a big red button on it for a cold start. Also BASIC (that's real Dartmouth BASIC) on some timesharing system back in 1972 (I was actually 14). I got one of the first copies of what was called MiniUNIX direct from Bell Labs for a PDP-11/20 I worked on. We were happy to work on that because it had a Tektronix screen -- so we didn't have to use those noisy TTYs. My PDA has 2000 times more memory than that thing -- 32K of real core. Another happy memory: when DEC came out with RK05's so we could carry our 1-2MB home (payroll etc) -- it was about as big as 2 or 3 stacked pizzas. Steve

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                    • E Ernest Laurentin

                      Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                      StarNamer work
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #136

                      18 years old, in FOCAL using a TeleType connected to a DEC PDP-8. It handled 5 simulaneous users and had 8Kwords (12-bit). I then used BASIC on a DEC PDP-10 which I think had 160Kwords (36-bit this time). Then, very rapidly, Macro-10 (PDP-10 assembler), FORTRAN, ALGOL60, ALGOL68, Macro-8 (PDP-8 assembler), PL/1, Babbage (a high-level assembler for GEC 4000 computers) and IBM/360 assembly language. By then, I was 22. I bought my first computer when aged 32; it was an Amstrad PPC640 with 640K memory and no hard drive. I added a 40Mb drive later. Programmed it using Basic and Assembler. I'd have to think about how many different types of machine I've used and with which languages. The list included PDP-11, VAX series (from MicroVax to 8650), IBM/370, GEC 4000 and 6000, as well most IBM-PC variants (from 8086 on). For some time my favourite language was Perl, because of it's portability, but I haven't used it for a few months (although I did use it extensively last year to query an ancient Oracle database). I now program mainly in Visual Basic and Transact-SQL (2005 versions) and can still run rings around almost every other programmer I come across.

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                      • W WaldemarIII

                        hobbywise back in the seventies, 8080, z80, 6800, 6502... and my alltime favorite, the 2650 (anybody know what that was?) and all programming done in assembler. hog heaven if you ask me! and great fun too... squeezing all desired functionality in as few bytes as possible... save a byte, get a sixpack (remember?) professionally, macro-11 and fortran on pdp-11s under rt-11sj/fb/xm and rsx-11s/m. after that the pc and the subsequent demise of a great art/craft. remember this one? - Real programmers don't write specs -- Users should consider themselves lucky to get any programs at all and take what they get. - Real programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to read. - Real programmers don't write application programs, they program right down on the bare metal. Application programming is for feebs who can't do systems programming. - Real programmers don't eat quiche. They eat twinkies, and szechevan food. - Real programmers programs never work right the first time. But if you throw them on the machine they can be patched into working in only a few 30-hours debugging sessions. - Real programmers don't write in Fortran. Fortran is for pipe stress freaks and crystallography weenies. Read the full article here: http://www.travelnotes.de/california/silicon/realprog.htm

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                        StarNamer work
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #137

                        I remember that... I also remember how it seemed so apt the first time I came across it after several overnight programming sessions. "Overnight" was normal because the turnaround time on the mainframe was better at night (a few minutes) when only the 'serious' programmers were queuing jobs to it! During the day, jobs could spend a couple of hours in the queue waiting to be run.

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                        • E Ernest Laurentin

                          Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                          Andrew Eisenberg
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #138

                          I was 12 and worked in Basic on the local university mainframe via a 300-baud modem with acoustic couplers. I then "graduated" at 13 to a TRS-80 model I with level I basic and 4K RAM and a 150 baud cassette drive at school. My parents got me a TRS-80 model I with level II (deluxe model) with a whopping 16K RAM and 300 baud cassette drive! I know that dates me. Now my Samsung i500 (Palm based phone) with 16MB of memory would run rings around that Model I and it's 2"x3"x3/4" and it can connect to the internet!

                          Andrew C. Eisenberg Nashville, TN, USA (a.k.a. Music City USA) (Yes Virginia, there are rock and roll stations in Nashville! :laugh:)

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                          • R Ravi Bhavnani

                            Started programming at 21 Got my own computer at 25 (IBM-AT, 6MHz, 512MKb RAM, 20Mb hard disk) First programming language: Pascal /ravi

                            My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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                            HuntrCkr
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #139

                            Started at 12 years old, with a Sharp ZX-80. No HDD, just two floppy drives. But that was just circumstances, not really that old... The 286 was around at that time, just couldn't afford it!

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                            • E Ernest Laurentin

                              Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                              Selim DURMUS
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #140

                              i was born in 1979 and coded my first program in 1990. Selim DURMUS System Administrator Middle East Technical Universty TURKEY selimdurmus@hotmail.com

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                              • E Ernest Laurentin

                                Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                                PSmith999
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #141

                                OK time I put up up 3 happenyworth I was 16 back in the 70's when I got my first introduction to the joys of Fortran IV on an old ICL machine. Then I built my own ZX81 and started learning Assembler. All Downhill from there !!! Paul Smith

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                                • E Ernest Laurentin

                                  Just wondering: how old were you when you start programming? maybe had your first computer? - I started programming when I was 12yrs (w/ VIC-20 and commodore 64)(I still feel young though!) - Programming language: Basic, then..Assembler for Commodore 64

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                                  urbane tiger
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #142

                                  I was 20, the year was 1966, the languages were autocoder and machine code. The memory technology was mercury delay line (you could see the bits flipping) and it had 8K thereof, its external i/o was paper tape (in and out). The mass storage was a drum about the size of an large industrial washing machine that I think held about 256K bytes. Ths manufacturer was Ferranti, the machine was called Sirius; I guess it was 2nd generation, if one regards Univac and Atlas a first generation. Next I got to use to a Burroughs system - using Algol, which is when I first started using semi-colons.

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