|
Am I the only person who had to suffer the plain English-ness of COBOL. I started programming at 13 in GWBASIC and when I was about 19/20 I learnt COBOL.
It had all sorts of funny things like
perform Get-Sick-Man 20 times.
perform until bad-tries is greater than 3 or valid-password
display pass-word-screen
accept pass-word-screen
on escape perform quit-program
if valid-password move "y" to good-password
if not valid-password add 1 to bad-tries
end-perform.
That didn't feel like programming at all. Anyone can tell what is going on. More like an essay. Can I get a witness? There is no easier way to do loops in any language than telling the computer exactly how many times you want to do the loop - IN PLAIN ENGLISH. Dealing with files was something else.
Now I appreciate C# and VB.NET and would just like to take a look at what COBOL.NET (I have been told there is something like that out now)is like. Just for the fun of it.
Let's make things simpler than possible.
|
|
|
|
|
For all those who started before the age of 10....
I do hope you still found time to play with Lego, play Cops and robbers outside, run, jump, climb trees and just generally enjoy being a child.
Programming computers at such an early age, just seems such a waste.
Michael
But you know when the truth is told,
That you can get what you want or you can just get old,
Your're going to kick off before you even get halfway through.
When will you realise... Vienna waits for you? - "The Stranger," Billy Joel
|
|
|
|
|
Hehe... It's no waste...
I was quite exited when I was writing my first games using visual basic... Every other guy was amazed of all this crazy sh*t 
And lego... I was doing lego technic models designed for 16 years+ teens at the age of 9 
Oh yes my childhood... Hard but still a sentimental value.
Michael P Butler wrote:
generally enjoy being a child
... hmmmm.... I couldn't enjoy this!
I wanted to be seen as adult and not as child! 
Now hmmm... I don't know... I sometimes mourn the old days, being together with friends...  Now I'm just sitting at my computer designing software the whole afternoon after school(I get home at 2pm).
But I'm still thinking that this decision was the best one I've made in my entire life!
I think this is the curse of being intelligent 
Greez,
Alex
Don't try it, just do it! 
|
|
|
|
|
Well, actually I started at 7 years old, because I was really sick, I had asthma and that gave me a lot of time in front of my Atari 130XE (I still have this computer ). Of course Starting young at programming is not normal and sometimes we just lost part of being kids, but now I have a nice job and I do what I love. Plus, programming gives you a better way to see things in life, also makes easy to understand things. I remember at school even university I was the one who never used to study for exams  .
Real Programmer is not who knows how to work with a programming tool, Real Programmer is who knows how to write cool stuff in any programming language, 'cuz he/she/(it!!?) thinks like a machine B).
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, you could actually get programmable lego - thus satisifying childish needs at the same time! You had lego bricks with inbuilt switches, light sensors, motors, etc all of which connected to control box programmed from the good old BBC.
Besides nothings a waste if you enjoy it! Sadly since I started using computers to earn a living they lost the magic they once held
--
The Obliterator
|
|
|
|
|
I really doubt half of the vote real, I started at 19, spend 19 to 23 totally programming from 7:00am to 7:00pm it paid of with ££££ but i wish i had been been clubbin with my mates around that time
A word of advice to any *young* programmer, don't spend 100% of the day in front of your screen.
I am that is
|
|
|
|
|
If you don't think programming is fun, why do you do it? I assure you, it's entirely possible to enjoy being a child writing code.
(Not that I didn't also play with Lego, et al.)
Actually, with LOGO it was a bit like scribbling with crayons.
|
|
|
|
|
this rocks
# THIS CODE AND INFORMATION ARE PROVIDED
# "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
# KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
# INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
# IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
# AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
# http://www.lennybacon.com/
|
|
|
|
|
When I was 14, we had to get an texas instruments TI-83. When I found out that you could program the thing, some games and bad results were the outcome  .
Soon I found it boring and started learning C/C++. Now I have 4 years of programming experiance with C/C++. When a friend came up with a very nice book about assembler, I started learning that.
In colledge I also had to learn Object Pascal and Java. But for me C++ will always be my favorite!
A student knows little about a lot.
A professor knows a lot about little.
I know everything about nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
Lucky you. I never did get my hands on any assembler literature no matter how hard I tried. Now there just isn't enough time to learn it.
I like your signature text. I've seen a similar quote, can't remember who said it though: "An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing"
Let's make things simpler than possible.
|
|
|
|
|
Well, I don't remember when I got my signature , but I can know that I didn't got the inspiration from that similar sig. But it is a very nice one
A student knows little about a lot.
A professor knows a lot about little.
I know everything about nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
my school sucks... what they call "computer science" is nothing more than powerpoint and HTML...
Don't try it, just do it!
|
|
|
|
|
jep
the same at my school.
we just learn about Office. Only in the higher classes they programm Turbo Pascal and vb
but next school year i go to a school, specialised on programming
scio me nihil scire
My OpenSource(zlib/libpng License) Engine:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rendertech
Its incurable, its a Pentium division failure.
|
|
|
|
|
Cool, I don't know any school in Germany teaching programming
School sucks and teaching everything yourself is the only "real" way to become a good coder.
Don't expect too much from this new school, prolly you will soon be better than all your teachers if you spend your freetime on programming.
Have Fun!
Don't try it, just do it!
|
|
|
|
|
it's not in germany
it's in austria(this is the little country under germany; between ~1200 and ~1915 austria was a world power like the US today; In the 1600s or so, austria was the empire, where the sun didn't rise)
scio me nihil scire
My OpenSource(zlib/libpng License) Engine:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rendertech
Its incurable, its a Pentium division failure.
|
|
|
|
|
I know what Austria is... so don't tell me about the history, I know everything about it!
And Austria has never been a "real" power.
Und wenn du sagen willst, dass die Sonne niemals untergeht, dann ist es SUN SET, und nicht RISE!
Don't try it, just do it!
|
|
|
|
|
k
schon gut; ich meinte ja untergehen, hab mich nur verschrieben(ich wollte eigentlich ... where the sund didn't sink).
Aber was meinst du damit, das Österreich nie eine real power gewesen war?
scio me nihil scire
Its incurable, its a Pentium division failure.
|
|
|
|
|
österreich hat so ziemlich jeden krieg verloren den es je geführt hat.. politisch hatte es auch noch nie was großes mitzureden(und heute abolut gar nix).
haste ICQ oder ähnliches, dann können wir gerne noch ne runde labern
Don't try it, just do it!
|
|
|
|
|
hmm, ok
im Geschichte Unterricht bei uns geht nicht immer so hervor, wer der Sieger eines Kriegs ist
meine ICQ Nummer ist übrigens 161666414
scio me nihil scire
Its incurable, its a Pentium division failure.
|
|
|
|
|
Programming Skills depend 99.9999% of yourself, neither I had programming classes at school and the teachers at university just suck. I love this and all what I know about programming I learnt it by myself, 'wasting' hours in front of the pc, buying and reading books, internet, etc. etc.
Real Programmer is not who knows how to work with a programming tool, Real Programmer is who knows how to write cool stuff in any programming language, 'cuz he/she/(it!!?) thinks like a machine B).
|
|
|
|
|
Am I the only one in the world that used this baby to begin their programming career?? Whenever I mention the "Spectravideo" to colleagues they shrug their shoulders...
It was an add-on for the Atari 2600 that plugged in via the cartridge and joystick ports gave the VCS a membrane keyboard. With it you could create graphics (40x40 pixels, 2 colours!!), music and, most important to me, code in a very simple BASIC.
It was a great little device and a delight for a child with an interest in these fascintating things called 'computers'...
Check out this link and this one too.
Aah the memories...
|
|
|
|
|
Spectravideo -86
Comodore 64 -87
Amiga 500 -91
8086/8886 -92
PC multi -> -92 -04
Centrino laptop  -04
18 years that changed my life
Gupta Team Developer 3.0
VC++ 2003
Oracle 8i
W2K-XP
|
|
|
|
|
Almost equal "CV":
Spectravideo SV-328 12/84: Had the best MS product ever - MS Basic
Commodore C128 7/86: Disk drive really sucked (1570)
Atari Mega ST2 x/87:
386 33MHz PC 01/91: First with green hercules display, at the end of '92 it got it's first linux inside!
Thereafter various PC-incarnations
Nowdays I have in my classics collection: Atari 520STFM, Atari 1024ST, 2 x Amiga 500 and a Apple Macintosh 512. All "infamous" Motorola 68k machines!
|
|
|
|
|
started as children! It really is true that what we pick up as kids tends to stick with us as adults, but I had no idea how strongly. That, to me, is all the more reason we need to stress the sciences early in order to ensure that we can continue to produce competent technical people in the future. Emphasizing PE and social studies over math and physics just guarantees us of a large segment of society that is incompetent to deal with a technical society, and ensures that technical jobs in the next generation will go unfilled. It's great to see our young members doing their part to help prevent that unpleasant outcome!
Heard in Bullhead City - "You haven't lost your girl -
you've just lost your turn..." [sigh] So true...
|
|
|
|
|
You are sooo right!!!
In Germany I often realize that many people are kinda "in fear" of high-tech products.
They are getting more and more hostile towards new technologie, I think mainly because they are not able to understand how it works and that there is no danger and so they are stopping high-tech projects because there are many people protesting against things they don't know anything about... And I think there is a similar situation in the United States and in many other western states.
I hope the way people are thinking about that will change in the future, or we will get big problems because our states earn their money by producing technologie...
Don't try it, just do it!
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
