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  3. What made you start coding?

What made you start coding?

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  • G glennPattonWork3

    Well when I heard of it I was thinking a microcontroller could get rid of the discrete logic (and the joys of static/dynamic hazards due to propagation delay) but wasn't too sure if you wanted to go that route...

    C Offline
    C Offline
    CodeWraith
    wrote on last edited by
    #57

    The biggest problem at the moment is to find a PIC32 that still runs at 5V. I could run the CDP1802 at 3.6V, but then I would have to lower its clock frequency. I have had an underclocked 1802 for 40 years, now I want to overclock[^] it. I intend a smaller PIC to conrol the 1802's clock frequency and operating mode. It also must communicate with a small serial ROM and copy it's contents into memory after a reset. This way I can keep the ROM out of the Elf's memory map and still have something to boot from. With a PIC in control of the clock frequency, I can do almost everything, from single stepping instructions to full blast or overclocking.

    I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

    G 1 Reply Last reply
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    • H honey the codewitch

      i was 8 when reagan was in office. I liked to read while eating breakfast. If not for that I may have never picked up that Applesoft BASIC manual that shipped with our craptastic Apple ][gs By the next year i was wiring stuff into the joystick port on the motherboard. 10 years later i was at microsoft.

      When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

      M Offline
      M Offline
      MarkTJohnson
      wrote on last edited by
      #58

      I sucked rocks as an elementary school teacher. Was married and needed a new career. Luckily, programming and I were a good fit.

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      • H honey the codewitch

        what a way to get started. into the fire as it were. I almost bought a crusty old PDP-11 but i didn't know where i'd keep it. These days, i could probably emulate one on a phone. :laugh:

        When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

        S Offline
        S Offline
        stoneyowl2
        wrote on last edited by
        #59

        Quote:

        what a way to get started. into the fire as it were.

        Yep. Bear in mind that the argon plasma was created by passing argon gas through a coil of water cooled copper tubing energized by a 5KW RF generator. Never set anything on fire, but the generator frequency was very close to the middle of the CB Radio bands. If we ever forgot to close the faraday cage, we blew up every CB radio in town.

        A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long

        H 1 Reply Last reply
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        • H honey the codewitch

          i was 8 when reagan was in office. I liked to read while eating breakfast. If not for that I may have never picked up that Applesoft BASIC manual that shipped with our craptastic Apple ][gs By the next year i was wiring stuff into the joystick port on the motherboard. 10 years later i was at microsoft.

          When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

          B Offline
          B Offline
          BillW33
          wrote on last edited by
          #60

          I got to do some C programming in my first calculus class in college and found out that I enjoyed it. I picked up more programming skills on my own then decided to take some programming classes. Fun times :-D

          Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.

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          • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

            Failed my last year of University* because I had been playing World of Warcraft too much. I still lived at home and my parents weren't pleased. They just sold their IT company to an uncle, an employee and a third that wasn't with the company until he bought it. My mom said "you're going to find a job or I'll do it for you, you can start there!" And I said "but I don't even know how to write code!" And then she gently whispered "THEN YOU'LL FUCKING LEARN! :mad::mad::mad:" And so I was hired because I was the son of old management and the nephew of new management and also because I had some affinity with computers, being a gamer and all. No one in this story regretted that decision. I liked programming and I learned it very quickly. I learned a lot, wrote some great software, introduced some new technology to the company, made them a lot of money (earned some myself as well), and then I moved on after four years :D Another five or so years later and here I am :D *I still finished that last year of University, earning me the title Master of Arts :D

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

            N Offline
            N Offline
            NeverJustHere
            wrote on last edited by
            #61

            I was fortunate enough to convince my parents to get me a ZX Spectrum as a Christmas present in 84, when I was 13. In those days, you could buy magazines that contained BASIC print outs for games. I learnt to debug before learnt to program. You'd type in a program, run it and get some weird result - and have to try to figure out where I'd miskeyed something. I started being able to see how the bug could manifest itself given the code I'd entered - something I believe I'm better at than most programmers. From there it was a matter of modifying the programs, and mashing bits of them together into new ones.

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • C CodeWraith

              The biggest problem at the moment is to find a PIC32 that still runs at 5V. I could run the CDP1802 at 3.6V, but then I would have to lower its clock frequency. I have had an underclocked 1802 for 40 years, now I want to overclock[^] it. I intend a smaller PIC to conrol the 1802's clock frequency and operating mode. It also must communicate with a small serial ROM and copy it's contents into memory after a reset. This way I can keep the ROM out of the Elf's memory map and still have something to boot from. With a PIC in control of the clock frequency, I can do almost everything, from single stepping instructions to full blast or overclocking.

              I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

              G Offline
              G Offline
              glennPattonWork3
              wrote on last edited by
              #62

              Silly I know, but what about a potenial divider 5V to 3.6V, Vo = Vi *((R2)/(R1+R2)), Vo = 5*(3.3K /(3.3K+ 1.7)), Vo = 3.3v, I always go for slightly below max. There are some good level shifting IC's (Texas Instruments)...

              C 1 Reply Last reply
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              • H honey the codewitch

                i was 8 when reagan was in office. I liked to read while eating breakfast. If not for that I may have never picked up that Applesoft BASIC manual that shipped with our craptastic Apple ][gs By the next year i was wiring stuff into the joystick port on the motherboard. 10 years later i was at microsoft.

                When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                P Offline
                P Offline
                PIEBALDconsult
                wrote on last edited by
                #63

                Ah, 'twas the year 1983, and I decided to find out what all the hoo-rah was about. I had seen a classmate's BASIC code a few year's earlier and the idea that a few arcane incantations could actually tell a machine to do something interesting was totally baffling. But, once I was introduced to it and tried it, I found that I could do it like nobody's business. (BASIC-Plus on a PDP-11 running RSTS-E) Money for nothing, and the chicks for free.

                H 1 Reply Last reply
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                • H honey the codewitch

                  ooooh, i bet that getting that was like 3 christmas' worth of joy.

                  When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  dandy72
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #64

                  honey the codewitch wrote:

                  ooooh, i bet that getting that was like 3 christmas' worth of joy.

                  Mine was, quite literally, spread over 3 Christmases. I got my C64 (and tape drive) on Xmas 83 (84?)...I put up with the tape drive for a year. Then the next Xmas I got the floppy drive, and the one after that a printer. I never did get a "proper" monitor so everything was hooked up to a TV on channel 3. I'm sure that did nothing good for my eyesight. As for the thread's main question...I started coding because there wasn't much I could do with the computer other than play what few games I had the first year on cartridge. Since most games came on floppy, that wasn't an option for me so I started reading the programming manual, and saving stuff to cassette. The floppy drive was a godsend. After that I was old enough to get a job and spend my own money on my own toys, so I got a 64C (really the same thing, but in a gray/white package), and my folks sold the original 64 to a couple of friends of theirs who had a kid a few years younger than I was...then I got a 128...I honestly have *no clue* what happened to those computers and sometimes wished I still had them. Then I moved on to the PC world. Nostalgia got the better of me, and got a 64 Mini last year (thanks to Nintendo for starting that trend). Then the nostalgia only got worse :-) and a few months ago I purchased a 64C + floppy drive (the "real thing") off of Kijiji, a Canadian equivalent to eBay. I temporarily hooked it up to a TV via the antenna connector, just to confirm it works, but I don't have the room to leave it there permanently. I have the room (and monitor) to set up elsewhere, but need *some* sort of adapter to hook it up via VGA.

                  H 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • G glennPattonWork3

                    Silly I know, but what about a potenial divider 5V to 3.6V, Vo = Vi *((R2)/(R1+R2)), Vo = 5*(3.3K /(3.3K+ 1.7)), Vo = 3.3v, I always go for slightly below max. There are some good level shifting IC's (Texas Instruments)...

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    CodeWraith
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #65

                    It's usually done that way, but it's the data bus that I must hook up to the PIC. I need something like a dual level bus transciever. Edit: I found this one[^], but I would need eight of them. The rest of the signals are inputs for the PIC and it's 5V tolerant. Edit 2: Here we go[^]

                    I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats. His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • H honey the codewitch

                      42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)

                      When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                      D Offline
                      D Offline
                      dandy72
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #66

                      honey the codewitch wrote:

                      42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)

                      What? WHAT DID I MISS?

                      H 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • M Marc Clifton

                        Coding was something my father could not understand, so he couldn't "take over", as it were. Plus the computer room in 7th grade was a great place to hide from the bullies.

                        Latest Articles:
                        Fun Exploring Div and Table UI Layout

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        dandy72
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #67

                        Marc Clifton wrote:

                        Plus the computer room in 7th grade was a great place to hide from the bullies.

                        The computer room is where the bullies knew they'd find me.

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                        • R realJSOP

                          After my first exposure to "software" (in the 70's), I decided I could do it better. Over 40 years later, that has not changed.

                          ".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

                          D Offline
                          D Offline
                          dandy72
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #68

                          #realJSOP wrote:

                          After my first exposure to "software" (in the 70's), I decided I could do it better. Over 40 years later, that has not changed.

                          Over 40 years later, you look at your own code and decide you could still do it better. It's a no-win situation. :-) (ok, it doesn't take 40 years to get to that stage...)

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                          • D dandy72

                            honey the codewitch wrote:

                            42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)

                            What? WHAT DID I MISS?

                            H Offline
                            H Offline
                            honey the codewitch
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #69

                            apparently life, the universe and everything? sorry dandy

                            When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                            D 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • H honey the codewitch

                              i was 8 when reagan was in office. I liked to read while eating breakfast. If not for that I may have never picked up that Applesoft BASIC manual that shipped with our craptastic Apple ][gs By the next year i was wiring stuff into the joystick port on the motherboard. 10 years later i was at microsoft.

                              When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                              G Offline
                              G Offline
                              Gary Wheeler
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #70

                              I remember watching the Project Gemini launches when I was little back in the early 60's. While I thought astronauts were cool, at age four I think I already knew I was too much of a clumsy nerd to ever be one. I was fascinated however by the consoles in mission control. All of those buttons, lights, and screens controlling this amazing machine. I wanted to know how all of that worked. 50+ years later I'm doing the UI's for our line of commercial inkjet printing systems[^]. It's not rocket science, but it's fun.

                              Software Zen: delete this;

                              H 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • D dandy72

                                honey the codewitch wrote:

                                ooooh, i bet that getting that was like 3 christmas' worth of joy.

                                Mine was, quite literally, spread over 3 Christmases. I got my C64 (and tape drive) on Xmas 83 (84?)...I put up with the tape drive for a year. Then the next Xmas I got the floppy drive, and the one after that a printer. I never did get a "proper" monitor so everything was hooked up to a TV on channel 3. I'm sure that did nothing good for my eyesight. As for the thread's main question...I started coding because there wasn't much I could do with the computer other than play what few games I had the first year on cartridge. Since most games came on floppy, that wasn't an option for me so I started reading the programming manual, and saving stuff to cassette. The floppy drive was a godsend. After that I was old enough to get a job and spend my own money on my own toys, so I got a 64C (really the same thing, but in a gray/white package), and my folks sold the original 64 to a couple of friends of theirs who had a kid a few years younger than I was...then I got a 128...I honestly have *no clue* what happened to those computers and sometimes wished I still had them. Then I moved on to the PC world. Nostalgia got the better of me, and got a 64 Mini last year (thanks to Nintendo for starting that trend). Then the nostalgia only got worse :-) and a few months ago I purchased a 64C + floppy drive (the "real thing") off of Kijiji, a Canadian equivalent to eBay. I temporarily hooked it up to a TV via the antenna connector, just to confirm it works, but I don't have the room to leave it there permanently. I have the room (and monitor) to set up elsewhere, but need *some* sort of adapter to hook it up via VGA.

                                H Offline
                                H Offline
                                honey the codewitch
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #71

                                you need something that takes composite i believe?

                                When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                D 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • P PIEBALDconsult

                                  Ah, 'twas the year 1983, and I decided to find out what all the hoo-rah was about. I had seen a classmate's BASIC code a few year's earlier and the idea that a few arcane incantations could actually tell a machine to do something interesting was totally baffling. But, once I was introduced to it and tried it, I found that I could do it like nobody's business. (BASIC-Plus on a PDP-11 running RSTS-E) Money for nothing, and the chicks for free.

                                  H Offline
                                  H Offline
                                  honey the codewitch
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #72

                                  neat! and '83 keeps coming up. funny, that. :)

                                  When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • G Gary Wheeler

                                    I remember watching the Project Gemini launches when I was little back in the early 60's. While I thought astronauts were cool, at age four I think I already knew I was too much of a clumsy nerd to ever be one. I was fascinated however by the consoles in mission control. All of those buttons, lights, and screens controlling this amazing machine. I wanted to know how all of that worked. 50+ years later I'm doing the UI's for our line of commercial inkjet printing systems[^]. It's not rocket science, but it's fun.

                                    Software Zen: delete this;

                                    H Offline
                                    H Offline
                                    honey the codewitch
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #73

                                    haha make it play doom. :laugh:

                                    When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                    G 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • S stoneyowl2

                                      Quote:

                                      what a way to get started. into the fire as it were.

                                      Yep. Bear in mind that the argon plasma was created by passing argon gas through a coil of water cooled copper tubing energized by a 5KW RF generator. Never set anything on fire, but the generator frequency was very close to the middle of the CB Radio bands. If we ever forgot to close the faraday cage, we blew up every CB radio in town.

                                      A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long

                                      H Offline
                                      H Offline
                                      honey the codewitch
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #74

                                      stoneyowl2 wrote:

                                      If we ever forgot to close the faraday cage, we blew up every CB radio in town.

                                      That sounds like fun. =)

                                      When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • H honey the codewitch

                                        apparently life, the universe and everything? sorry dandy

                                        When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                        D Offline
                                        D Offline
                                        dandy72
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #75

                                        Well, I knew about that, but I guess I never realized there was a lesson to it... Is there a test I can take again?

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • H honey the codewitch

                                          haha make it play doom. :laugh:

                                          When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          Gary Wheeler
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #76

                                          Let me put it this way. We print fast enough (up to 17 feet of paper per second) that you could play DOOM at around 50 fps on the printed paper.

                                          Software Zen: delete this;

                                          H 1 Reply Last reply
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