11–20 of 38 posts
That was my first taste of a computer, and of programming. And I've loved both ever since.
From there I used to travel into the Computing Teaching Centre in Oxford University on weekends to write BASIC on a CTL Modular One[2]. I had no idea of the significance at the time but I met Tony Hoare[3] there on numerous occasions. It was a friend who got us in, I think he just knocked on the door and said can we play with your computers and remarkably they said yes. I was 14 or 15 at the time.
The first computer I owned was an Acorn System 1[4], 1KB RAM, 512 bytes ROM and a 7 segment calculator display. I had to work through the summer holidays picking fruit to pay for it. I spent countless hours hand assembling code for it, I think the biggest project I did was a Forth like language.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-57 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Technology_Limited#Th... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hoare [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_System_1
I'm really glad it worked out the way it did. I enjoy this a lot more than I ever could have thought.
My classroom was the first class in the school to get a computer. At the time, nobody knew how to work the things, so instead of rotating around all of the different classrooms each week, it was left in our room for half of the year.
During that time, I got to use it a lot and became more fluent on it than the teacher. Eventually, a local news crew came to do a story on this rollout of computers in the classroom, and I got to be on local TV showing the reporter how to do stuff on this 'new technology'.
I learned that not everyone 'got' computers like I did.
My dad was really into electronics and got a Windows 95 for home use. He insisted that my sister and I learn how to type.
He also made the fatal mistake of sharing the MechWarrior 2 and MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries CDs that came with our computer with me. I popped them in and got hooked. So I learned how to type, but I also developed a huge love for video games.
Basically, the rest of my childhood was spent thwarting the various ways my parents devised to try and lock me out of using the Internet/playing games. The more my parents tried to keep me off the computer, the more I wanted to be on.
My fascination with video games also made it so I wanted to learn to program. I learned some basic control flows in C++ at 13. Never really went much past that, because I started working in technical theatre and lighting, and spent more of my time programming lights and setting up lighting networks.
Picked it back up again in college, when I started taking game development classes and having to build stuff in Unity and GameMaker.
After this event, I learnt how to clean and tweak Windows. I started searching and comparing programs. I installed Firefox, adblock, an antivirus and a firewall, etc. I remember also asking my parents if I could open the computer to see how it works. It's also the period I started to spend a lot of time on forums. I discovered MMORPGs. Then I built my own gaming computer and made a basic website about the game I was playing.
I'm only in it for the money.