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  3. What is your WHY in CODING?

What is your WHY in CODING?

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  • R Randy Ga

    When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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    CPallini
    wrote on last edited by
    #16

    1984 if I remember well. A fantastic ZX Spectrum 48K. BASIC, Forth and Assembly. Why? Fashinated by videogames! :-D

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    • K kmoorevs

      phil.o wrote:

      TI-99/4A

      Me too! A pricing war had made them affordable so my brothers and I got one for Christmas in either '82 or '83. My brothers were interested in the games but I realized that there was much more to it than that and soon had it doing my algebra homework, playing music with flashing colors...what fun! :) Luckily, we had an extra TV for the basement! :)

      "Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse

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      phil o
      wrote on last edited by
      #17

      I was lucky to have comprehensive parents, who let me monopolize their TV (we only had one at that moment). Thinking back, they must have wondered if I really was their offspring ^^

      "I'm neither for nor against, on the contrary." John Middle

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      • R Randy Ga

        When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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        Joe Woodbury
        wrote on last edited by
        #18

        When: Spring 1980 Why: Because it was interesting (it became less interesting in college later that year because they used [time shared] mainframes and mainframes bored me and still do.) I continued doing it because it's one thing I'm very good at and which pays the bills. One could argue that it's the only thing I'm very good at.

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        • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

          OriginalGriff wrote:

          with no heavy lifting

          Unless you had one of those "boat anchor" portable computers. :)

          The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.

          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriff
          wrote on last edited by
          #19

          Hah! In those days you needed a crane to change the disk! :laugh:

          Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

          "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
          "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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          • R Randy Ga

            When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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            Mycroft Holmes
            wrote on last edited by
            #20

            Late 80s on a commodore64. I was sick of repeatedly estimating the number of tiles on a roof, and getting it wrong. The application reduced my error rate from about 20% to 5% and those were transposition errors because I had to write up the order manually.

            Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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            • R RickZeeland

              The first computer I laid my hands on was a Sinclair ZX81 (black and white), I was fascinated and got hooked on Basic programming. Did not think I would be doing this as a profession later on in life, evolved from Basic to VB, VB.NET and finally C#.

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              Mycroft Holmes
              wrote on last edited by
              #21

              I went the same path but started with a commodore 64 and went via SuperBase before I got into VB.

              Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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              • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                OriginalGriff wrote:

                with no heavy lifting

                Unless you had one of those "boat anchor" portable computers. :)

                The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.

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                Mycroft Holmes
                wrote on last edited by
                #22

                I remember the Kaypro!

                Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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                • R Randy Ga

                  When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                  Dr Walt Fair PE
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #23

                  I learned in 1967, because I wanted to learn about those newfangled compputer machines. I started getting paid to program in 1972 when I took a job to pay for my university studies.I tutored and taught FORTRAN for several years, then worked for a research commision writing FORTRAN and Algol programs. I started a software business in 1990 after working as an engineer for 15 years.

                  CQ de W5ALT

                  Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software

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                  • realJSOPR realJSOP

                    1978 for me. I took up the trade because I wasn't required to talk to people that annoy me.

                    ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

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                    Dr Walt Fair PE
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #24

                    But you get to cuss at compilers and machines because they do what you instruct rather than what you want!And shooting com[puteers isn't illegal.

                    CQ de W5ALT

                    Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software

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                    • R Randy Ga

                      When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                      Munchies_Matt
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #25

                      Money.

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                      • M Mycroft Holmes

                        I went the same path but started with a commodore 64 and went via SuperBase before I got into VB.

                        Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

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                        RickZeeland
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #26

                        SuperBase rings a bell with me, I had that on my Atari 1040ST but never did anything useful with it. Later on I thought DbaseIII+ was more interesting because of job opportunities, and to my amazement I got a job as a database programmer pretty quick !

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                        • R Randy Ga

                          When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

                          Sander RosselS Offline
                          Sander RosselS Offline
                          Sander Rossel
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #27

                          Because I needed a job and there was good money to be made in IT :laugh: I actually learned on the job (and in my spare time after I got my first job). I liked it, it kind of stuck, and I've been doing it happily ever after ;)

                          Best, Sander Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

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                          • R Randy Ga

                            When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #28

                            The year was 1992. It was DOS on a IBM386. My dad was a programmer back then, so I learned a few nifty things using his class notes...I ended up studying it in college after my hopes to pursue a career in aviation got crushed. But hey, 10 years into doing this for a living, no regrets! WHY? Because this world needs more people doing good things to make a difference. :cool:

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                            • R Randy Ga

                              When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                              EbenRoux
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #29

                              I started programming in 1984 (standard 4 / grade 6 - age 12) on a Commodore VIC20. I just always enjoyed it. Couldn't believe that one could get paid to do something so enjoyable :)

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                              • R Randy Ga

                                When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                Ravi Sant
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #30

                                It was year 1999. There was huge incentive before Y2K and market was prospering and shedding money who could code HTML. But to make my fundamentals strong I started with C language and fell in love with it. I then wrote code in C, C#, Java, JavaScript, Web languages and frameworks, windows app development and Silverlight, etc.

                                // ♫ 99 little bugs in the code, // 99 bugs in the code // We fix a bug, compile it again // 101 little bugs in the code ♫

                                Tell your manager, while you code: "good, cheap or fast: pick two. "

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                                • R Randy Ga

                                  When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                  Tomaz Stih 0
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #31

                                  1982. I was 10y old. In primary school. My neighbor got a British made ZX Spectrum microcomputer. I consider the day he brought it to my place the luckiest in my life. That night, knowing only five BASIC commands - LET, INPUT, PRINT, GOTO (yes!), and IF - I wrote my first code. On paper, using graphite pencil, of course. And I knew this was what I wanted to do. Why? Were you ever asked by your girlfriend or your wife (or both?) why you love her ( of course you were -- it's a standard let's have a fight trap ) Not an easy question to answer. I suppose it is the creation of new, the individual self- dependency, the freedom to do whatever you want and the responsibility to fix bugs, the adolescent loneliness, the instant gratification of software - simply a good match to our characters. Later in life I met a lot of people who never found themselves. Never knew what they want to do in life. It lead to realization of how lucky I was. Life gives you many boons and bones. But it's all easier if you have passion for your work. We, who do, are the lucky ones. We are the privileged few. :laugh: :java:

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                                  • R Randy Ga

                                    When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                    ClockMeister
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #32

                                    Back in 1976 I took a FORTRAN course at Georgia Tech. The first time I saw that I could make a machine do THAT the lid was off. I was hooked on it and still am.

                                    If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur! - Red Adair

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                                    • R Randy Ga

                                      When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                      BryanFazekas
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #33

                                      1979 on Commodore PET 8k computers. Why? Because it was interesting. I went to college for computer science because I had no idea what else to do. Looks like it worked out for me. :-D

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                                      • R Randy Ga

                                        When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                        Tim Carmichael
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #34

                                        When: In 1980, our high school was picked as one of the 'test' high schools in the province to have computers: 3 Commodore PETS - 16K models. Pretty much self-taught on Commodore BASIC and then 6502 Assembler. Why: I had taken a data processing course before where we studied the history of computers, then, in the last term, we wrote programs using mark-sense cards. That peaked my interest. From there... it was college and over 30 years of professional work.

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                                        • R Randy Ga

                                          When did you first learn to code and why? I learned in 2012 and my WHY is to hopefully be successful one day in helping millions.

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                                          CodeZombie62
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #35

                                          I started in high school back in 1979 when I was a junior. We had three teletypes connected via modem (rotary dial phones and acoustic couplers) to the minicomputers across town at UND. The actual computers were a PDP-8 and a PDP-12 and we were learning BASIC. They wouldn't let us save anything on the computers but the teletypes were able to punch holes in paper tapes and read them. In my senior year they actually got an Apple II. I spent a lot of time in the computer lab and found that I really liked working with the computers. After I graduated from high school we moved down to Florida and I went to college. I just really enjoyed working with computers and I was able to get paid doing it as well. It's always nice when you can get paid for doing something that you like doing.

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