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My first language and interesting early software projects.

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    Matthew Dennis
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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    • M Matthew Dennis

      Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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      Ravi Bhavnani
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Pascal Fortran, COBOL (in university) C Lisp OPS5 C++ Java C# /ravi

      My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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      • M Matthew Dennis

        Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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        Joe Woodbury
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Matthew Dennis wrote:

        What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

        Using all of Apple II memory, including unused holes in various places in memory. I recall one piece of code of mine being wedged into lo-res video memory. Then there was the bank switched ram. I also remember TSRs in DOS, where we would overwrite the environment block with code. (I also have a vague memory that there was a hole between the text memory and VGA memory that you could slip a small TSR into.)

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        • M Matthew Dennis

          Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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          Big Daddy Farang
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          For me it was: BASIC PL/1 FORTRAN Pascal MACRO-11 (assembly for PDP-11) C QBASIC C++ C# As far as resource constrained, there was a large system using Pascal and FORTRAN during universitry days, some embedded C projects, and a system in QBASIC. (It was the only thing available.) We were always pushing the limit of what it could handle as the "database" grew. More recently I've run out of memory on modern hardware in a C# (WinForms) application. That forced me to analyze the codebase from before I joined the project looking for objects not being disposed that should have. Always *enjoy* those problems. :)

          BDF I often make very large prints from unexposed film, and every one of them turns out to be a picture of myself as I once dreamed I would be. -- BillWoodruff

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          • M Matthew Dennis

            Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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            lewax00
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            The major ones for me (in order of time learned): VB6 VB.NET C++ (this is when I actually learned how to program...not so much of a jab at the VB languages, as much as I enjoy doing so, but it wasn't much more than copy/pasting code until this point) Java Python C# But I've played around in many other languages too (as I suspect most people here have), really trying to get something going with a functional language for kicks (though, I've been playing around with Ruby lately, and it's not far from it). As for interesting projects...well I honestly never finish personal projects, so they don't end up being very memorable :-O

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            • M Matthew Dennis

              Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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              AspDotNetDev
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              One of your first languages (C#) came out 30 years after you built your first computer? :confused:

              Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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              • A AspDotNetDev

                One of your first languages (C#) came out 30 years after you built your first computer? :confused:

                Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                PIEBALDconsult
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                And they're all first languages. :suss:

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                • M Matthew Dennis

                  Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                  PIEBALDconsult
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  BASIC-Plus[^] An example of an interesting early project was the one that tried to find its way through a maze, logging each step, which filled the drive and crashed the PDP-11. :cool:

                  Matthew Dennis wrote:

                  extremely resource constrained development

                  None. Unless you consider my current project wherein SQL Server says 15GB of RAM isn't enough.

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                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                    BASIC-Plus[^] An example of an interesting early project was the one that tried to find its way through a maze, logging each step, which filled the drive and crashed the PDP-11. :cool:

                    Matthew Dennis wrote:

                    extremely resource constrained development

                    None. Unless you consider my current project wherein SQL Server says 15GB of RAM isn't enough.

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                    AspDotNetDev
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    When I was toying with SharePoint, supposedly 24GB was the minimum (though 12GB seemed to work fine). :((

                    Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                    • M Matthew Dennis

                      Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                      Espen Harlinn
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I faintly remember ordering a build your own computer kit through some English gadget magazine at the end if the 70'ties - I think I managed to assemble it according to the instructions. I guess it wasn't a real computer, but I managed to get a number lights to blink in the prescribed order. My first real computer was an Acorn BBC model B which was, at the time, an extraordinary piece of hardware.

                      Espen Harlinn Principal Architect, Software - Goodtech Projects & Services AS Projects promoting programming in "natural language" are intrinsically doomed to fail. Edsger W.Dijkstra

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                      • M Matthew Dennis

                        Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        I started with 6502 Machine code. Learned enough Basic to write a quick and dirty assembler This was on the Commodore Pet The screen was character based (no pixels in them days!) but did have a character set that included 2x3 'blobs' i.e.

                        XX
                        XX
                        XX

                        where X was either on or off. Space = all off. I wrote the machine code (in pencil, in my school rough book) to firstly allow me to draw 'points' by calculating which character on the 80x24 character screen the point occurred in, then taking the character that was there and working out what new character to replace it with in order to turn on or off an individual 'blob'! Then I wrote a line drawing version so I could draw straight lines at any angle. Then ( and this was what it was all leading up to!) I wrote a version of missile command!!!

                        MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                        • M Matthew Dennis

                          Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                          H Brydon
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          My first language was WATFIV on an IBM /360-65. I then regressed to Fortran IID, SPS IID and machine language on an IBM 1620. Then assembly, machine language, Fortran on PDP-11, then ... (lotsa stuff elided) ... Java. A fun project I did was calculating the first several thousand digits of pi using 10000 digit floating point words on the 1620. This was in the days when there were only about 10,000 digits known at the time (that I could find; there was no Google then). I also wrote an operating system in machine language for PDP-11/05 with 2 X 8K core memory as storage (no disk), keyboard/thermal printer (console) and alternate crt terminal (to avoid paper consumption). I wrote it in assembly on paper, assembled to machine code by hand and typed in each word via boot ROM. Lots of fun making lights blink and show patterns. The one and only app was a text editor. Array overruns and memory copy indiscretions had a bad habit of clearing memory.

                          -- Harvey

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                          • M Matthew Dennis

                            Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                            Steve Mayfield
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            I wrote a Motorola 6800 version of DEC Teco (text editor with extensive scripting capabilities) and Runoff (text processor using embedded formatting commands like .center) back in the mid 70s - Teco took less than 12k and Runoff was even smaller. :cool: The programs were revised for the 6809 when that processor was introduced in the early 80s.

                            Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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                            • M Matthew Dennis

                              Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                              Brady Kelly
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              My chronology of languages is somewhat shorter: MS Basic on the ZX-81 and ZX Spectrum. C and C++ on my first PC, but only dabbling. Never wrote more than Hello World that worked. Clarion. VB 6 SAP ABAP/4 SQL C# V.NET JavaScript TypeScript (just starting)

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                              • M Matthew Dennis

                                Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                                vonb
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                IBM BASICA DOS BATCH FILES 8086 ASSEMBLER BORLAND DELPHI BORLAND TURBO PASCAL BORLAND TURBO C (Pretty good package at that time) VBA VB 6 VB.NET C# (For me the best)

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                                • M Matthew Dennis

                                  Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                                  YvesDaoust
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  My very first computer programming language was FORTRAN IV on an IBM 360. (I could also mention my beloved Texas Instruments SR-52 wonder, but I am no more sure it came first.) The first useful program was a function plotting utility, character-based, outputting on A3 sized pin-fed sheets with a chain printer. This program was used for real. I never saw the computer, I was living 50 km away from it.

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                                  • M Matthew Dennis

                                    Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                                    YvesDaoust
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Not involving a programming language, but I want to recall this anecdote. My very very first program was a procedure to quickly compute cube roots on a 4 operations calculator:

                                    // Store the argument to memory
                                    MC
                                    M+

                                    // Repeat
                                    *
                                    MR

                                    Sqrt
                                    Sqrt
                                    // Until convergence

                                    Convergence comes in about 14 iterations for an 8 digits display, for a total of 72 keystrokes. On some machines, the = operation is not required.

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                                    • M Matthew Dennis

                                      Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                                      W Offline
                                      winsteps
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Folks, does anyone here pre-date me? First computer language, 1965: EDSAC2 Autocode in a programming course taught by Dr. Maurice Wilkes (who wrote the first book on computer programming, published in 1951). But there was a huge resource-constraint! Computer time was so valuable that we students were not allowed to run our programs. Dr. Wilkes desk-checked them. Then, for an interesting "software" project, later in 1965, I worked as a programmer for Electronic Associates who manufactured analog plug-board computers. One of my first projects was a real-time oil-field simulation on an EAI 360 which was somewhat bigger than this: http://www.technikum29.de/shared/photos/rechnertechnik/eai180.jpg - programming was done with wires.

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                                      • E Espen Harlinn

                                        I faintly remember ordering a build your own computer kit through some English gadget magazine at the end if the 70'ties - I think I managed to assemble it according to the instructions. I guess it wasn't a real computer, but I managed to get a number lights to blink in the prescribed order. My first real computer was an Acorn BBC model B which was, at the time, an extraordinary piece of hardware.

                                        Espen Harlinn Principal Architect, Software - Goodtech Projects & Services AS Projects promoting programming in "natural language" are intrinsically doomed to fail. Edsger W.Dijkstra

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                                        dusty_dex
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        >My first real computer was an Acorn BBC model B which was, at the time, an extraordinary piece of hardware.< The whole machine was a marvel of clearly thought out integration between hardware and software. Perhaps THE best example of a totally accessible computer system. The Archimedes wasn't half bad either, I wonder what happened to those nice ARM people. LOL

                                        "It's true that hard work never killed anyone. But I figure, why take the chance." - Ronald Reagan That's what machines are for. Got a problem? Sleep on it.

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                                        • M Matthew Dennis

                                          Update: Responses have reminded me of several laguages that I had forgotten. The responses to my post about my first computer got me thinking about my first languages. I think they were Basic MC 6800 Assembler Fortran (WatIV) C B Z80 Assembler 8086 Assembler (and worked on a Small C port on an original IBM PC) Turbo Pascal Turbo C Delphi Pascal PL-M MC 6809 Assembler (wrote a whole OS for traffic control systems) Forth (the MC6809 seemed to be designed to implement Forth) Clarion C++ (including Turbo C++) C# During this, a number of micro-controller assemblers. One of my favorite projects was a dual printer controller for a point of sale terminal. Had a roll and slip printer. I had to control the head motion, fire the print head pins and bit bang a serial port and include the fonts. All on a MC 6805 with 3096 BYTES of ROM and 112 BYTE of RAM (including stack). For another set of products, I developed an Operating Kernel and developement environment for an Embedded system using Turbo C++. All the Tasks were initialize with static initializers, so you could just link in new processes. The whole compiled Kernel took less than 15K. What extremely resource constrained development do you remember from the stone age?

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                                          Cliff Cooley
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          FORTRAN NICOL PLAN RPG2 COBOL QM (QueryMaster) & AM (ApplicationsMaster ?) COBRA BASIC (various flavours) C C++ VB (3/4/5/6) Java JavaScript VB.NET C# + various scripting languages (CL, SCL, DOS, VBS)

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