Is there life after code?

[)roi(];18547660 said:
Yes..
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My first line of code was in PL/I in 1982 on a punch card for a Sperry Univac mainframe (iirc), age 13.
 
biometrics said:
My first line of code was in PL/I in 1982 on a punch card for a Sperry Univac mainframe (iirc), age 13.
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Excellent, beat you by just a few years...
First line was on a Apple II in 1979; a friend's dad brought it over from the US; wasted gift, because all he wanted to do was play games, but he was a good friend so I got spend a lot of time on it. Parents finally spoiled me with the TI-99/4A for my birthday in 1981.
 
biometrics said:
My first paid programming job was around 1984/5 converting an Osborne BASIC caravan park booking app to DOS. Think it was GWBASIC on an Olivetti M24.
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Mine was in 1985; taught computer programming (Basic and dBase), WordStar, and Lotus 1-2-3. First real application I wrote was a book keeping system for a dance studio in 1986.
 
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[)roi(];18547716 said:
Excellent, beat you by just a few years...
First line was on a Apple II in 1979; a friend's dad brought it over from the US; wasted gift, because all he wanted to do was play games, but he was a good friend so I got spend a lot of time on it. Parents finally spoiled me with the TI-99/4A for my birthday in 1981.
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Lol, funny how vivid those memories are. My first introduction to programming was the year before. I wanted an Atari but my father had a friend with a toy store and brought home a Phillips G7000 Videopac Computer. It was ok but not an Atari. But I found a cartridge in a catalog that allowed you to make your own games. I ordered it with pocket money ... turned out to be assembler and impossible for a 12 year old in 1981. If only I knew what was to follow ...
 
biometrics said:
Lol, funny how vivid those memories are. My first introduction to programming was the year before. I wanted an Atari but my father had a friend with a toy store and brought home a Phillips G7000 Videopac Computer. It was ok but not an Atari. But I found a cartridge in a catalog that allowed you to make your own games. I ordered it with pocket money ... turned out to be assembler and impossible for a 12 year old in 1981. If only I knew what was to follow ...
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Lol... Too true... On the Assembler bit, did much the same in 1982, ordered the Editor/Assembler cartridge because I thought ai was hitting limits in Basic; that really did my nut; but I finally was able to write a few things.

The other part I remember well is the process of entering sprites; sitting with grid paper on which I had colored in what the sprite would look like; then separating that into 8x8 blocks, and finally converting that to 8 x 2 digit hex values; I worked days on end converting grids and capturing hex values -- naturally I really hated power failures; the tape cassettes were just way too slow to use too often. But success paid off I was able to write a rudimentary version of space invaders -- a little sad now I never kept any of my old kit.
 
Thanks geezers now I dont feel so old anymore :whistle:

I think a lot of the programmers that still want to be technical go into problem solving and or leadership positions. Its hard to beat someone thats seen so many problems/challenges and solutions when the crap really hits the fan. Sometimes just making a few suggestions can push someone in the right direction to solve that sev 1 issue costing millions.
 
As long as we're reminiscing:
If you consider logo programming, I would have started in 1981 on an Apple II. Otherwise Acorn Basic on an Acorn Electron in '83. First paid job was probably around 1991 - App to automate the "new" VAT calculations at point of sale. First real job was late 90's.
 
cguy said:
As long as we're reminiscing:
If you consider logo programming, I would have started in 1981 on an Apple II. Otherwise Acorn Basic on an Acorn Electron in '83. First paid job was probably around 1991 - App to automate the "new" VAT calculations at point of sale. First real job was late 90's.
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Certainly counts. Interesting re Acorn Basic; I had the BBC Model B from late 1983.
 
[)roi(];18548172 said:
Certainly counts. Interesting re Acorn Basic; I had the BBC Model B from late 1983.
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Cool. A friend of mine got the Archimedes a few years down the line - the graphics were amazing for the time.
 
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biometrics said:
I'm 47. Started five companies since I started working full time in 1989, wrote most of the code and still do. I do usually partner with someone to run the business side of things though.
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I guess it depends on the kind of company. What a lot of guys call their "own company" is frequently little more than free-lancing or contracting. Seen a lot of guys start a full fledged business and burn themselves out in no time because they have have the fantasy of being full time coders while they're also trying to market, recruit, fund raise, do the books, etc etc. It severely limits growth. This is a very hard transition to make as it is not easy to let go.
 
My first program was on a cheap Spectrum.

10 Goto 20
20 Goto 10

Pretty useless, but it produced some nice running colour patterns (as it did when loading a game) that impressed me at the time.
 
Beachless said:
Thanks geezers now I dont feel so old anymore :whistle:

I think a lot of the programmers that still want to be technical go into problem solving and or leadership positions. Its hard to beat someone thats seen so many problems/challenges and solutions when the crap really hits the fan. Sometimes just making a few suggestions can push someone in the right direction to solve that sev 1 issue costing millions.
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Matriculated in '79.. enough said :) Spending half my time as a developer enhancing and supporting legacy systems, and the other half as business/technical support to the newer generation, involved with developing those legacy systems on another platform
 
cguy said:
Cool. A friend of mine got the Archimedes a few years down the line - the graphics were amazing for the time.
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Yeah... Acorn retained that title for quite a while; so aside from the TI, my fondest memories of early computing are around Acorn technology; happened to also be my first experience online with a few BBS (remember the acoustic couplers & rotary dial phones.).
 
Luke7777 said:
Matriculated in '79.. enough said :) Spending half my time as a developer enhancing and supporting legacy systems, and the other half as business/technical support to the newer generation, involved with developing those legacy systems on another platform
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You certainly would have some interesting stories to tell..
 
garp said:
I guess it depends on the kind of company. What a lot of guys call their "own company" is frequently little more than free-lancing or contracting. Seen a lot of guys start a full fledged business and burn themselves out in no time because they have have the fantasy of being full time coders while they're also trying to market, recruit, fund raise, do the books, etc etc. It severely limits growth. This is a very hard transition to make as it is not easy to let go.
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My dream has always been to own a software company that creates products. In the 90's it was a combo of that and what you describe. But since 2000 it has purely been products. It's really satisfying knowing your products are used in 20+ countries.
 
animal531 said:
My first program was on a cheap Spectrum.

10 Goto 20
20 Goto 10

Pretty useless, but it produced some nice running colour patterns (as it did when loading a game) that impressed me at the time.
Click to expand...
Lol... it's amazing what simple stuff would entertain us; I remember being blown away by Atari Pong.

One of my fondest memories writing early code was produce wireframe spinning planetoids on the BBC Model B; I used sine & cosine formulas to draw adjacent elliptical arcs, so it was painfully slow to render, but it was still worth it in the end; the Acorn graphics routines supported the ability to flash replace colours; which if painted in a regular sequence would allow you to simulate wireframe motion i.e. spinning planetoids and flashing stars.
 
biometrics said:
My dream has always been to own a software company that creates products. In the 90's it was a combo of that and what you describe. But since 2000 it has purely been products. It's really satisfying knowing your products are used in 20+ countries.
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No offer of a buy out?
 
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