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Poll: How long have you been programming?

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Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#261

Post by danellis »

jdc wrote: post #52
drblast wrote: post #27

Started at age 7 on a C64. I learned binary before I could multiply because you needed to understand binary to create multi-colored sprites on the C64. I made a game where you drove a car and avoided things, then another where you drove a spaceship and avoided things, then another where you shot arrows at moving targets. That last game was the first one I wrote where the goal was to hit things, a major departure for…

> Despite the advances in tech, kids today who want to learn to program have it much harder. Why is that?

There's something inviting about turning on your computer and being greeted with a BASIC interpreter prompt, the cursor blinking at you expectantly.

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#262

Post by groby_b »

Pretty much 30 years to the day. (So I'll claim 30+, thankyouverymuch! ;)

It was in BASIC, on a Data General Nova Eclipse. Upgraded to assembly about 6 weeks later, just because it was insanely fascinating. (Hey, I was in 8th grade or so. Nobody breathing down my neck to actually produce useful things)

First program? Simulate rolling the dice 200 times. We had to do that for homework, and like every self-respecting programmer, I'd rather spend 2 hours automating a task than 30 minutes doing it by hand. (Followed by 10 hours of tinkering so it makes nice output ;)

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#263

Post by ethereal »

HackR wrote: post #252
ethereal wrote: post #249

How quickly time flies . . . I started programming on paper, writing programs for PIC12 microcontrollers. I would have been seven at the time. Never actually programmed one of the devices, but the experience taught me to logically think through a task, break it down into discrete steps, etc. I quickly progressed to writing QBasic programs on paper, reading through some textbooks my parents borrowed from the local Uni…

Good sir, are you human? This is incredibly awesome! At age 12, I probably didn't even know what programming entailed. I really wish I did though.

I haven't had my DNA sequenced (yet!) so I can't answer if I'm human or not. I suspect I am, though, and simply had the good fortune to be given parents willing to foster an interest in scientific and mathematical subjects.

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#264

Post by [deleted] »

officialchicken wrote: post #124
drblast wrote: post #27

Started at age 7 on a C64. I learned binary before I could multiply because you needed to understand binary to create multi-colored sprites on the C64. I made a game where you drove a car and avoided things, then another where you drove a spaceship and avoided things, then another where you shot arrows at moving targets. That last game was the first one I wrote where the goal was to hit things, a major departure for…

Why do people continually assume that kids don't have the intellectual capacity to solve problems? The hurdles are only as high as YOU think they are. Kid wants to make a game, kid programs a game. What's so hard about that? The kid doesn't care about the "barrier to entry" any more than issues like platform, methodology, budget, competition, etc. None of those business decisions are part of their need to make the ga…

[deleted]

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#265

Post by snikolov »

I started Spring of 2004 when I was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School. We could start taking electives our second semester, so I signed up for Intro to Computer Science on a whim. I was decent at math but didn't know a thing about programming or computer science and never bothered much with computers aside from playing games.

I fell in love. I remember we worked with Netlogo and Scheme. We learned about towers of hanoi, various search algorithms, dynamic programming, cellular automata, disease spreading simulations, lots of recursion, prisoner's dilemma and many other things. I remember implementing a calculator in Scheme and writing a billiards game in Netlogo as projects. People did lots of awesome projects and it was an inspiring time and place to be.

I've been programming ever since and I was very very lucky to have the option to try it out in the first place. There's a real need to bring that option to more people, and I've been thinking lately about how I can do that.

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#268

Post by febeling »

1985 or so, on the CPC6128 produced by Amstrad, and in Germany sold by Schneider Elektronik. I programmed it in Locomotive BASIC. It also had Logo, with the turtle graphics feature. It was meant for kids, but it also felt like that too much as well, so I didn't bother using it too much.

The machine had a 3" (sic) diskette drive. Unfortunately, the 3.5" diskette made the race and became predominate. 3" was prohibitively expensive within short order.

Re: Poll: How long have you been programming?

#270

Post by richardw »

febeling wrote: post #268

1985 or so, on the CPC6128 produced by Amstrad, and in Germany sold by Schneider Elektronik. I programmed it in Locomotive BASIC. It also had Logo, with the turtle graphics feature. It was meant for kids, but it also felt like that too much as well, so I didn't bother using it too much. The machine had a 3" (sic) diskette drive. Unfortunately, the 3.5" diskette made the race and became predominate. 3" was prohibitive…

I had the Amstrad CPC-464 (with built-in tape drive) and after that an Amiga 500 which I still have somewhere. So many hundreds of hours on those machines!
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