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.
Back in the 70's I got this educational thingy called "CARDIAC". Was a cardboard tool to demonstrate the workings of a computer. Had sections for memory and registers, and you would write in with pencil your program, and execute the instructions, etc. Very simple, but showed me enough to get me hooked. High school we had access to an old HP computer. Had a 80 character, single line LED display, card reader, plotter, thermal printer, and 4K of core RAM. Lots of fun doing plots and such. Also the school had an 1802 kit that I would do assembler coding on. First real computer was a TRS-80, and first computer job was during the summer when I was 15, writing some office software on a UCSD Pascal system. And I haven't stopped since 😉
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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.
Lots of interesting replies. Here's mine. We had a Computer Club at my grammar school in 1966 run by one of the science teachers. We learnt about binary numbers & how computers (at that time) worked. We had some type of primitive system that was collectively programmed to solve simple math/logic problems and show the answers in binary using lights on or off. My first real programming experience was learning Fortran at the end of 2nd year Civ. Eng. degree in 1969. For some unknown reason, after the exams we had a 2 week course each morning waiting for exam results to be published. Needless to say, we spent most of our time partying & so often had less than clear heads in the morning. For the first couple of days of the Fortran course I couldn't make any sense of it. How could i = i + 1? Then it suddenly clicked & I was hooked. The next year I did my 3rd year project programming a simulation of a water resources system to optimize withdrawals from different sources to meet the demand from a nearby city. It was punched cards which were delivered to the Computer Dept. on the other side of campus. If you submitted by 11am, you got your print out the next day. If not you had to wait until the day after. From there I moved to Canada to do a Masters including a thesis developing/programming a deterministic conceptual hydrologic model. This led to a 40+ year career as a water resources consulting engineer doing computer modelling. At first, we did lots of programming but eventually pre-packaged models took over so I kept up my interest as a recreational programmer with a C64, etc. learning various languages, etc. continuing up to today.
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My high school had a PDP/8 with two terminals but no tape drive, just the punch tape. I learned BASIC on it my senior year 1977/78. I had a PET, 64, and Amiga.
Roland M Smith wrote:
I had a PET, 64, and Amiga.
I somehow skipped the Amiga, going from PET and C64/ Vic20 to a dual floppy IBM PC.
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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, IBM 1620, 20K bytes memory, assembly and Fortran II (I'm 80). :-)
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Also FORTRAN and punch cards on an IBM1130 (4K RAM). In high school, might have been around 1972.
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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.
From the first line of code to transitioning from an Auto Mechanic to a professional Software Developer. 1977 (ish): Writing Basic code on a Bally Entertainment System, wrote a simple Multi-Die + Adjustments dice rolling routine for D&D. Had to load and save via cassette tape. Late 1977: Followed shortly thereafter by an Apple II+ that my dad received for his office. Wrote several D&D applications where I could run a random campaign pretty easily. Unfortunately, it was at his office most of the time. 1982: A KayPro II luggable continuously borrowed from a neighbor who didn't care to use it (it was supplied through his emplyer). I finally had something I could use on a regular basis. Ported all of my D&D code from the Apple II+ to the KayPro and wrote even more stuff for our D&D campaigning. :) 1983: Life happened... Didn't touch a computer for 5 years. 1988: Discovered BBS's via a friend of mine who ran one. Rented to own an 10Mhz IBM XT clone, taught myself QuickBasic and Pascal. Quickly acquired 2 80286 machines. Taught myself C. Picked up an 80386 machine. Ran a BBS of my own, wrote BBS Doors, other utilities. 1990: I was hired as a programmer writing billing and management code for a company (now defunct) in Carrollton Tx. The journey begins!
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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.
IBM 709 in Machine Language then assembler then FORTRAN in early 1961. Still writing code but in higher level languages.
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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.
1969 assembly language on a Varian Associates 620i 16 bit computer with 4k of core memory. Teletype punch paper tape to load program, after manually entering bootstrap program from front panel switches. System used to control and record data from a Farrington Electronics OCR page reader.
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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.
The first actual programming I did was on a Apple II sometime in the early 80's. I programmed generating and storing character sheets for D & D. I programmed in Apple Basic, but I THINK the actual Basic program code was written by Micro-Soft, if I remember correctly. What got me interested in programs themselves was my first computer, a TRS-80, from 1978. I had a game called Pursuit of the Graf Spee. You had to load it from a cassette tape using a standard player connected to the computer by an audio patch cable. I discovered if you hit the Break characters (don't remember if it was Cntrl-C or not) the program would stop, you could see the code that made up the game, and you could alter the ship's performance. You alternated sitting at the keyboard/screen. The German Player would enter his move/speed, then the British would enter theirs. The British had more ships, but the fast ones were out-gunned by the Spee and the big gun Rodney was too slow to catch it in a race. Unless like me you hit the Program Break and altered the code before starting the game for real. You could change it so that you had incredible amounts of fuel, travel at 99 knots and have a ridiculous number of guns and armor. You could only have 2 digit numbers for turrets, armor and guns per turret on the ship, but that let you put 99 turrets, with 99 guns each. And 99 inches of armor. It was a fun trick to play once on someone, but the game alterations weren't saved so you had to alter the code each time, and you had to do it without the other player knowing you did it. But it was fun looking through the code and figuring out what commands/code did what, and how they set up the situation and what percentages they assigned different actions and what they did to keep track of the 5 or 6 ships the 2 players controlled. When I went to school the beginner languages taught was Fortran and Pascal, with C being what was pushed for advanced language. COBOL still was taught but it was an optional class.
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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 would have been four in 1960, OP. Still interested in magnets, toads, bicycles and bunnies. I could already read comic books by then, so my fate was sealed. First real was Fortran and BASIC in whatever year Reagan was elected President. I think Windows 1.0 was still about seven years away? Reading all the replies, I have to say it's nice to have someone my own age to play with.
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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.
No punch card machine at the high school I attended; our 'punch' cards had to be filled in by hand using Sharpies, sent out 2x a week to the one high school in the area that had a computer we could get some processing time on, and we got to do a field trip every two weeks to that school so that we got a total of 5-6 tries maybe in a 2 week period to get our FORTRAN programs correct. That inspired me though, so over the next summer I spent my babysitting money on a COSMAC Elf (RCA 1802) kit, taught myself assembly language and eventually abandoned my plans to become a veterinarian even though the state university I attended starting that fall didn't quite have such a thing as a degree in computer anything. ~ janet
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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!
The same guy worked the input/output window at my college. 1979, SPSS programs on punch cards, submitted in shoeboxes. You got your cards back and a stack of green bar printouts. Syntax errors cost you the time to fix and resubmit. Logic errors got you thrown out of the basement.
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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.
Fortran 4 in high school in 1972. 026 keypunch. Lame IBM "programmed learning" course. IBM 360 at the Seattle Public Schools central office, approximately three week (!!) turnaround via US Mail round trip. Favorite error message "Expecting operator but , before J was found"
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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.
First professional experience was PL/I on IBM 360/95 modeling heat flow through a nuclear reactor core section and Assembly language on a HP 2116 at Argonne National Laboratory in 1968 for data collection. Then went to work for GTE after Nixon got elected and axed R&D budgets where I was programming the IBM 1800 in Assembly and a touch of Fortran II. Modified the be-dickens out of the 1800 MPX operating system including writing a printer spooling system, developing support for the 2314 disk drives, bi-sync communications to IBM 370/158 and 168, and developing real time multi-programming/multi-tasking OS'es including assemblers for Data General Nova and GTE Tempo II computer, all while going to night school at IIT and studying languages such as Lisp and Univac 1108 assembly language. Managed to get married, buy and remodel a house and have 3 kids. I'm not sure if I ever slept.
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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.
First professional experience was PL/I on IBM 360/95 modeling heat flow through a nuclear reactor core section and Assembly language on a HP 2116 at Argonne National Laboratory in 1968 for data collection. Then went to work for GTE after Nixon got elected and axed R&D budgets where I was programming the IBM 1800 in Assembly and a touch of Fortran II. Modified the be-dickens out of the 1800 MPX operating system including writing a printer spooling system, developing support for the 2314 disk drives, bi-sync communications to IBM 370/158 and 168, and developing real time multi-programming/multi-tasking OS'es including assemblers for Data General Nova and GTE Tempo II computer, all while going to night school at IIT and studying languages such as Lisp and Univac 1108 assembly language. Managed to get married, buy and remodel a house and have 3 kids. I'm not sure if I ever slept.
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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.
First professional experience was PL/I on IBM 360/95 modeling heat flow through a nuclear reactor core section and Assembly language on a HP 2116 at Argonne National Laboratory in 1968 for data collection. Then went to work for GTE after Nixon got elected and axed R&D budgets where I was programming the IBM 1800 in Assembly and a touch of Fortran II. Modified the be-dickens out of the 1800 MPX operating system including writing a printer spooling system, developing support for the 2314 disk drives, bi-sync communications to IBM 370/158 and 168, and developing real time multi-programming/multi-tasking OS'es including assemblers for Data General Nova and GTE Tempo II computer, all while going to night school at IIT and studying languages such as Lisp and Univac 1108 assembly language. Managed to get married, buy and remodel a house and have 3 kids. I'm not sure if I ever slept.
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First professional experience was PL/I on IBM 360/95 modeling heat flow through a nuclear reactor core section and Assembly language on a HP 2116 at Argonne National Laboratory in 1968 for data collection. Then went to work for GTE after Nixon got elected and axed R&D budgets where I was programming the IBM 1800 in Assembly and a touch of Fortran II. Modified the be-dickens out of the 1800 MPX operating system including writing a printer spooling system, developing support for the 2314 disk drives, bi-sync communications to IBM 370/158 and 168, and developing real time multi-programming/multi-tasking OS'es including assemblers for Data General Nova and GTE Tempo II computer, all while going to night school at IIT and studying languages such as Lisp and Univac 1108 assembly language. Managed to get married, buy and remodel a house and have 3 kids. I'm not sure if I ever slept.
Please don't repost if your message doesn't appear immediately: all three got sent to moderation by the automated system and required a human to check and approve them. And then follow you around and clear up the spares ... :sigh:
"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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Please don't repost if your message doesn't appear immediately: all three got sent to moderation by the automated system and required a human to check and approve them. And then follow you around and clear up the spares ... :sigh:
"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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BASIC on a GE time-sharing teletype with punched paper tape for program storage in 1966.
Me, too. 110 baud dial-up on paper tape.
