First experience of programming
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
My first experience was a programming class on AppleII probably in the early 80s (1982-ishy ?? ) I remember the class room, it was a bright room, everything smelled new. And also on Sinclair zx80 at school (but again, I don't remember much).
I'd rather be phishing!
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
COBOL, gawd help me. On a ICL 1900 running George 3, on punch cards, with operators who actively (and for good reason) hated students. You'd get your deck back with bits of lettuce stuck to them, half of someone else's program upside down, and a core dump two feet thick. The lecherer (for he was indeed a lecherous sod) allowed three attempts to get your code working: three deck submissions. After that, you lost 10% of available points for each run. Following term was FORTRAN and a breath of fresh air.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
Mine was with BASIC somewhere at the end of the 80ies with a Spectrum 128k 10 print "hello world" 20 goto 10 Happiness of seeing it worked was fast replaced for... "wtf do I now to stop it? If I break it my brother will kill me" (I was 8 or 9 back then) Then... pity. There was a long break of many years of nothing. Some time later, I got strictly prohibited to touch my brother's computer ever again (the endless loop was pretty harmless after all ;P :laugh:) I learnt the lesson... don't let you get caught (still had some incognito experiences with a Pentium I -75 Hz IIRC- and Win 3.11). I officially started again short before college, got back with my own Pentium II (250 Hz IIRC), Win95 and Turbo-C, derive and similars, then Borland C++...
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
My first serious program (after a number of trivial ones) was one to compute a Magic Square of odd dimension. This was in 1987 in FORTRAN IV on a DEC 10 Mainframe system. Since I needed blank paper to write down engineering college notes, I gave it an input of 101, printed it and got something like 20 or 25 pages or so of one-sided paper.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
1975 on the 31st May I wrote my first program in City & Guilds Mnemonic Code assembly language. It was fed through a teletype on punched tape via an acoustic coupler to an ICL 1900 at Manchester University (about 50 miles away). It ran and produced the correct answer, first time! That's when I knew I had to give up my Law career and become a lumberjack computer programmer!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Mine was with BASIC somewhere at the end of the 80ies with a Spectrum 128k 10 print "hello world" 20 goto 10 Happiness of seeing it worked was fast replaced for... "wtf do I now to stop it? If I break it my brother will kill me" (I was 8 or 9 back then) Then... pity. There was a long break of many years of nothing. Some time later, I got strictly prohibited to touch my brother's computer ever again (the endless loop was pretty harmless after all ;P :laugh:) I learnt the lesson... don't let you get caught (still had some incognito experiences with a Pentium I -75 Hz IIRC- and Win 3.11). I officially started again short before college, got back with my own Pentium II (250 Hz IIRC), Win95 and Turbo-C, derive and similars, then Borland C++...
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
Oh, we used to dream of having 128K! :-D Speccy 48K for me, in the early 80s. (Once we'd been back to the store to get a box that wasn't empty, that is.) Combined with a set of Input Magazine[^]. (Ignore the publication years on that site; they were all 84-85.)
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
This one time, at band camp...
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
1964: accounting machine program punched on mylar tape. 1965: IBM 1800, assembler. Some Fortran.
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
I miss Heathkit. I built a variable voltage and current power supply from a kit that I used for years. 1974: My first programming experience was on a PDP/11, punchtape storage, teletype, BASIC, 64K RAM, and mag tape drive that if it drew too much current would crash the entire computer. 1977: Second was a couple HP calculators, the first being an HP-25 - Wikipedia[^] After highschool, I started programming on a Commodore PET. Onwards and upwards!
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
It was the day after I got my C64 (Hanukkah 1984)... I just finished the book came with it without sleeping...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
It was Christmas of '82 or '83 (can't remember) and my parents bought my brothers and I a TI-99/4a. My brothers were only interested in the games, but I quickly discovered that it could do more. I learned enough BASIC to write small programs to solve my HS algebra and geometry homework. A few years later I went to uni as a CS major but quit when I got kicked out of the lab for refusing to yield a terminal to an upperclassman. 10 years later, tired of factory work, I went back and finished. I got my first programming job a year before I graduated and am still working here 20 years later. :)
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
Keying in instructions on the front panel of a LEO/III (see below) in 1966, and then moving to creating self loading programs on paper tape. Worked on various different systems and languages in the intervening years. Leo Computers Society. Leo 3 photos[^]. I worked on III/6 (i.e the sixth system off the factory), the first four photos on the second row.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
Depends. First program was written for the HP-67 on magnetic strip to run analysis of gas chromatography data. Second was PDP-11 assembly to analyse data from Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Spectrophotomer for elemental analysis
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
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
1964. First year science at Monash Uni. Punch FORTRAN II cards on an IBM 026, submit to the CDC 3200. The next year we did all sorts of devious things, based on fixed load locations and lack of array bounds checking.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
Early 1983. First year of engineering. FORTRAN on a Multics system. Judging from those first attempts I should not be doing it now. But I am! That was the first year that they removed the punch card machines with terminals. Dodged that bullet!
I, for one, like Roman Numerals.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
Do those turtle things that run around the floor count? If not, then I think 2000. Some Turbo C++ thing in which I wrote the biggest switch statement of my life... you enter an album track number, and it prints out the lyrics for that song. The album was Slipknot (self-entitled).
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
1983, high school, PDP-11, RSTS-E, BASIC-Plus. VT100 and similar termini, no freaking punch cards.
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So - we have done the age thing, so how about the experience thing? In 1960 I was given a Heathkit EC-1 in kit form by a rich relo. I built it, and then programmed it to solve very simply calculus problems, with the output sent to a Heathkit oscilloscope - it was an analog machine! Then there was an eight year gap until university, an IBM 1130 and Algol.
1974-5 (or thereabout) on the mainframe of the Weizmann Institute. Punched cards, batch processing, FORTRAN IV, 1-2 hours between submitting the card deck and receiving the output. Need I say more?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
