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I have many, many pet projects that I started with great enthusiasm and curiosity, "can I make this work?". Many of them petered out once I got the "yes, I can make this work" stage as I lost any determination just to polish it to the end point.
I wrote many games for my friends to play but if there was no interest from one or more of my friends then the project would fade away.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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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.
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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.
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If only.
I have no spare TV, and all my spare monitors are VGA only.
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I have one of those, or at least a more sophisticated/expensive version of it that includes audio (this converter from Amazon would be video only, would it not?). Mine's either no longer working, or there's something wrong with the conversion somewhere along the way, because it wouldn't show anything. I'll admit I haven't fully investigated all my options yet...
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i think this one claimed to have audio, and amazon takes returns. it might be worth a shot.
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.
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Not seeing any link in your message, or did you mean the one you had already previously linked to?
If you meant the item at your previous link...then clearly, it's only got RCA and S-Video for input, and VGA for output. None of which handle any sort of audio. Unless all the pictures are wrong.
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the description said something about sound, but TBH i just skimmed it. was assuming there was an 8th inch stereo output jack on it somewhere. *shrug*
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.
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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 F***ING LEARN!  "
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 
Another five or so years later and here I am
*I still finished that last year of University, earning me the title Master of Arts
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haha what a great story. you must be one of the youngun's here like me. WoW during your college years kind of gave it away.
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.
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You're not young, 40 is like ancient 
And with 31 (almost 32) I'm not that young myself anymore 
WoW came out when I was still in high school.
I'd say I'm a little too young to have played Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, but I have played Age of Empires which was released only two years later
I've played Warcraft III though.
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good. my highest aspiration is to become a crazy cat lady. or one of those old haggy witches that gets dragged through the village square and burned (my retirement plan #aesthetic)
and I'm 41 now. It was my birthday last wednesday.
aged a whole year in the past week
probably your fault.
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.
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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.
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honey the codewitch wrote: 42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)
What? WHAT DID I MISS?
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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.
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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?
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I've been meaning to tell you that I start with the braces.
Then delete them.
I'm not joking.
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.
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well you'll be happy to know that due to my aversion to this:
}
}
}
}
}
I've been using Refactor->Extract Method
what a wonderful feature.
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.
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Beware!
I AM young... still...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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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.
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I started as an operator in late '65 on LEO III systems. One of my colleagues taught me how to key in a program using the buttons on the front panel (WTF you may well ask). From there it was a small step to writing machine code and punching it up on paper tape or Hollerith cards, which could be self booted into the machine. I was hooked!
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oldschool. back when men were men and the bugs were actual bugs.
i like it.
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.
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