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Very, very, very.
I didn't even see a computer until about six months after I started coding - we used punch cards in those days - being able to use a terminal and even an editor (poor by modern standards as it was) was a brilliant revelation!
"Turning the computer on" had to wait about another year and the 5th computer I used: a PDP8.
And starting that box was a bit harder than today:
Turn key to POWER.
Set all switches to 0
Click on EXTD
Set switches to 0x0018
Click on ADDR
Set switches to 0x0DE3
Click on DEP
Set switches to 0x0A19
Click on DEP
Set switches to 0x0080
Click on ADDR
Click on CLR
Verify HALT and STEP are up
Click on CONT
(I cheated and checked the exact values, but I remembered it pretty well: only one digit error!)
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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I am proud to say that i have seen an punch card, never saw the machine (we are not counting the pictures and internet).
OT:
I have whole 2 boxes full of doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts (we have no other choice here for good doughnuts) but still i am very happy :P
Why i am sharing this ? Because when you are sending the lappie sleeve you need to add something extra in good packaging, choco is prefered
Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true
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Punched card had big advantages over "Modern" editors and HDDs.
They taught you to write concise, efficient programs.
Otherwise you needed wheels to move your code around! We didn't have "copy'n'paste", we had "drag'n'hernia"! That stuff got heavy quickly
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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You left out "knocking over the card stack of the guy/gal you didn't like". My first program was a COBOL program, punched in, then fed to a 370/115. I was in my first semester of a Business Administration degree, fell in love with coding, transferred to a 2 year state tech, got an AS in coding and never looked back. Fortunately for me I never actually had to work on a Mainframe, PC's & 'Mini' computers were just coming into vogue, so that's what I've always worked on. C first, x86 asm, then C++.
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Using punched cards taught me how to delicately fit a chad back into a mis-punched hole, and keep it in place with sticky tape. And clog up the card reader.
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I started on an ICL 1901, which was also switch operated. I can't remember all the switch combinations, but I seem to recall that to load a program required the use of the index and middle fingers on the left hand, and the index finger on the right hand, followed by pressing the green (I think) button.
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I was quite knowledgeable of computers when I started programming in C++ back around 1999. I had already been writing basic JavaScript, plus I grew up around computers. I didn't "know it all", but I definitely knew how to operate one and how to get around. But then again, I was also intrigued by hacking, though I never pursued it on a malicious level. Once I started programming, I learned so much more about a computer though, I know.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I knew nothing of computer when I got my C64 and started to do some basic and assembly (I got a book with)...
I learned side-by-side about how to use and how to program.
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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I still have the book that came with my C64 around here somewhere, probably buried deep in the attic somewhere. Might be time to go treasure hunting
"I've seen more information on a frickin' sticky note!" - Dave Kreskowiak
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Well, I guess thats the benefit of starting coding way before WIndows rolled along. It was a Spectrum I first wrote programs on, just for my own use, and actually really enjoyed it. It wasnt till much later that I startrd a career in programming, and that was on DOS, which again is simple.
Now I write WIndows drivers mostly, as well as LInux, and I am fully aware of the complexity of the OS, and how hard MSFT make it by producing junk code themselves ans almost useless documentation.
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I am sorry, it is not useless. It is fairly easy to get windows message numbers and their meaning if you want to trap them. Oh and applying a processor patch is easier than that if you can get the correct SDK (I almosttypes APK here ).
sarcasm
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d@nish wrote: it is not useless
You might want to revise that opinion after reading the WDK...
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Anymore use of TLA's and I will have head out for a KFC!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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WTF?
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You missed out on word sarcasm in small font size at the bottom of post, didn't you?
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I did, sorry. Thought it was a sig.
Yes,, glad you agree.
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Mine was in VB copying and pasting a tutorial for a whack a mole game, which I then replaced the mole with my friends head.
As for my computer skills, I think I did the head picture by cutting it out in paint, I knew a tiny bit about ms dos but literally nothing compared to the vast overwhelming knowledge I know now. Which will be literally nothing compared to the vast super overhwelming knowledge I'll know in five years etc etc.
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer)
www.simonshugar.co.uk
"If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
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I had nearly forgotten: My Uni course was a "thin sandwich" - 6 months Uni, 6 months industry - and my first industrial training was this the Atlas Computer Division of the Rutherford Labs, a UK government research institution.
At the end of the training a report on my work was sent to the college: "Was determined to find out 'all about computers' and showed great ingenuity in doing so"
It wasn't a compliment.
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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Hey Griff, I was at Rutherford 83-87. Any overlap?
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No - I was there the summer of '78, working for Rob Witty on Dimensional Flowcharting.
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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I didn't get interested in programming until I had already been using computers for several years. And I didn't even start programming on a PC, I started on a TI-84+. When I started programming on a PC, it was z80 asm, for TI-84+. By the time I finally started writing programs for PCs, I was pretty computer literate, in a Windows-centric way.
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.NOLIST
#define EQU .equ
#define equ .equ
#define END .end
#define end .end
#include "ti83plus.inc"
.LIST
.org 9D93h
.db $BB,$6D
xor a
ld (CURCOL),a
ld (CURROW),a
ld hl,text
B_CALL(_PutS)
ret
text:
.db "Hello, Harold!",0
.end
end
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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I found something very strikingly similar on wikibooks about TI83 Assembly
"I've seen more information on a frickin' sticky note!" - Dave Kreskowiak
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Thats probably where I stole it from - but I made it more efficient: the original used "ld a,0" which is one M state and 3 T states slower, and uses a whole extra byte in memory!
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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So, you're a TASM user? That's getting quite rare, Brass and SPASM are so much better that almost everyone switched.
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