what was your first experience/interaction/introduction with computers

jens · 2012-05-24 06:09:01

i was age 11 when i got my Sinclair ZX81 kit as an x-mas present.
best of it is, right after finishing the soldering, it worked without flaws !
and it still does today, more than 27 years later.

apm · 2012-05-24 06:18:31

@jens thanks for the input
must be a great computer to withstand 27 years

2Karl · 2012-05-24 07:55:50

My dad bought a Dragon 32 way back in the early 80s, which was the first computer I remember. Arguments broke out over which colour setting looked best: Black, Buff or Green.

I wrote a rubbish text adventure when I was 6. When I was 8 I tried to incorporate some sort of combat method into it, but I didn't know how to generate a random integer, so I ended up with messages like:

"The snake attacks you and causes 46.9873484736 points of damage!"

Good times.

apm · 2012-05-24 09:16:29

2Karl wrote:

My dad bought a Dragon 32 way back in the early 80s, which was the first computer I remember. Arguments broke out over which colour setting looked best: Black, Buff or Green.
I wrote a rubbish text adventure when I was 6. When I was 8 I tried to incorporate some sort of combat method into it, but I didn't know how to generate a random integer, so I ended up with messages like:
"The snake attacks you and causes 46.9873484736 points of damage!"
Good times.

you are programming since you were 6 yikes

good lord , ididn't start until i was 17 , you are so much learned than me o great unix wizard
(ha ha ha eric raymond , good times , indeed good times)

Last edited by apm (2012-05-24 09:17:05)

2Karl · 2012-05-24 09:19:49

apm wrote:

good lord , ididn't start until i was 17 , you are so much learned than me o great unix wizard
(ha ha ha eric raymond , good times , indeed good times)

Lol, it was hardly high level. And there was more accessibility to programming in the early 80s (and less actual use for the computer, plus less distractions from other sources). The point is, you're programming now, and that's all that matters right?

apm · 2012-05-24 09:26:04

2Karl wrote:

apm wrote:
good lord , ididn't start until i was 17 , you are so much learned than me o great unix wizard
(ha ha ha eric raymond , good times , indeed good times)
Lol, it was hardly high level. And there was more accessibility to programming in the early 80s (and less actual use for the computer, plus less distractions from other sources). The point is, you're programming now, and that's all that matters right?

yeah but after reading intro to oop by timothy budd i feel like , i still have a ton to learn in terms of oop
well i know java to a modest-mediocer level and am profficient in C99
know python 2.x , 3x
a little html
uml is a modeling tool and language if you count it
obj-c at a beginner's level since i use a mac
and of course a little bash from oriely books(unix power tools)
how would you judge me if i tol you i did all this in 1 year and 2 months

Last edited by apm (2012-05-24 09:27:01)

oupsemma · 2012-05-24 09:33:35

My first time with computers was in my French collège (which is the equivalent of Junior High school I think), age 13, and we had an hour a week of 'playing' with Latin declensions on them. It was in the late 70s and I assume that was quite a modern way of teaching Latin at that time.

No need to tell you that after that, it took me quite a while to find any interest in computers.
Learning Latin proved to be useful, enables you to understand Italian and to get a good grip in words etiology in a lot of languages.

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 09:36:32

2Karl · 2012-05-24 09:43:20

I wouldn't judge you at all as I'm not in the business of judging people. It's good that you obviously have a strong enthusiasm for the subject.

As regards oo, If you're using UML to design your programs that's a good start. It seems daunting at first, but it's not really that complicated. I recommend setting yourself a simple project (text based dice rolling game is what I always go for when learning a new language). there's two approaches you could take if you were writing it in Java. Either write a load of methods all called from main to get it working and then break it into classes (not recommended), or think about what classes you will need from the get go. Before you start coding, try to imagine how you would play the game "in real life". What different objects might there be? (dice, players, table, chairs) How many of these will be necessary in a computer implementation? How many of the objects are unique and how many are simply copies of other objects? You can then start to build up an idea of what classes you will need. You'll probably need a dice class, a player class. Maybe a "table" class to keep track of scoring, although that might be taking the analogy too far.

Once you've sorted your classes out, think of what attributes and methods those classes will need. For the dice, obvious attributes might be number of sides, methods would certainly include roll. Encapsulation is a very important concept to understand for oo, so it's worth ensuring that you have a firm grasp before moving on to more advanced techniques like inheritance and polymorphism.

Kepp reading, keep experimenting. Once you have a program writting in one language, try "porting" it to a different language. What was easily transferred? What was not? Why? Does one language have a particular advantage over another? Which parts of the program remained semantically identical if not syntactically?

Also the teacher in me should remind you that HTML is not a programming language, it's a markup language.

el_koraco · 2012-05-24 09:45:30

machinebacon wrote:

.gif

Ban!

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 09:51:13

^ A kurva eletbe big_smile

apm · 2012-05-24 09:56:19

2Karl wrote:

I wouldn't judge you at all as I'm not in the business of judging people. It's good that you obviously have a strong enthusiasm for the subject.
As regards oo, If you're using UML to design your programs that's a good start. It seems daunting at first, but it's not really that complicated. I recommend setting yourself a simple project (text based dice rolling game is what I always go for when learning a new language). there's two approaches you could take if you were writing it in Java. Either write a load of methods all called from main to get it working and then break it into classes (not recommended), or think about what classes you will need from the get go. Before you start coding, try to imagine how you would play the game "in real life". What different objects might there be? (dice, players, table, chairs) How many of these will be necessary in a computer implementation? How many of the objects are unique and how many are simply copies of other objects? You can then start to build up an idea of what classes you will need. You'll probably need a dice class, a player class. Maybe a "table" class to keep track of scoring, although that might be taking the analogy too far.
Once you've sorted your classes out, think of what attributes and methods those classes will need. For the dice, obvious attributes might be number of sides, methods would certainly include roll. Encapsulation is a very important concept to understand for oo, so it's worth ensuring that you have a firm grasp before moving on to more advanced techniques like inheritance and polymorphism.
Kepp reading, keep experimenting. Once you have a program writting in one language, try "porting" it to a different language. What was easily transferred? What was not? Why? Does one language have a particular advantage over another? Which parts of the program remained semantically identical if not syntactically?
Also the teacher in me should remind you that HTML is not a programming language, it's a markup language.

thank's for showing me the way ahead i appreciate it
well you know i tell people that i know 5 programing languages genrally classmates so html though i know that it is a markup language i just list it to show off to people who don't know dang about programing
you know adds a little weight to my list.

2Karl · 2012-05-24 09:58:27

If you have usenet access, it can be useful checking out comp.lang.java or comp.lang.python

Or it USED to be, I can't say whether usenet's as good as it was 10 years ago.

Eren · 2012-05-24 12:05:46

Interesting story. Hmm, my childhood friend has got an old MMX computer which has got a Turbo button still I didn't know what it's work for. One day he said to me, Eren, come to my house, we'll play Fifa 98, Virtua Cop etc. Then one night I visited him with my parents, we played Fifa. Of course I don't know anything about computers, I have no idea playing with fuckin' mouse. After 4 matches, I learned to play and then I won all the games we played. He said to me what I never forget, "Eren, computer is thinking, when we play games it thinks and now it's tired. It needs to rest. I must close it now." I said "It's ok, I won the matches more than you." He gets a little bit angry but my heart still broken for this stupid childish acts for playing a computer. Because I'm low level for him. That's a tragic story but sometimes I remember and I laugh. big_smile Computer thinking and it's tired. It needs a rest. I gotta go. See ya. tongue

Last edited by Eren (2012-05-24 12:07:20)

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 12:22:27

^ How many sleepless nights I had with the FIFA series... Starting 1994. tongue

"1998 - Road to World Cup" I think was the name. Yeah, I played that, too big_smile *blush*

Last edited by machinebacon (2012-05-24 12:23:30)

Eren · 2012-05-24 12:30:02

^ Fifa 98' Road to World Cup it's. Blur's famous Song 2 it's soundtrack and still best indoor matches. Great game btw. big_smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w0X1bSrUHs song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2eO1IvFHYQ indoor matches

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 12:50:20

^ I got my head checked. Wohoo! big_smile Best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWI3QfM8Qdk

Last edited by machinebacon (2012-05-24 12:51:57)

Eren · 2012-05-24 13:11:02

^ Hhaahah I watched that too. Fifa 98 and Fifa 99 still best in this series. In Fifa 2000, players speaks after goal and only says "Goal". big_smile

tedbell · 2012-05-24 13:18:57

lol. I had a computer with a 'turbo' button. Still in the basement. Quite nice for 1991. Comes with a 5" floppy, 3" floppy, cd rom!

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 13:35:23

^ The infamous turbo button, to switch from 16 Mhz to 33 or something like this big_smile

2Karl · 2012-05-24 13:50:18

Hehe yeah my machine even had a digital LCD display so I could see what speed the CPU was at. It wasn't tied to the processor at all - just hard wired to read "33" when turbo was on and "08" when it was off.

tedbell · 2012-05-24 14:06:31

yeah mine had that too. It also had a lock that used a key similar to a bike lock key. lol

machinebacon · 2012-05-24 15:01:46

Maybe it was the ignition? wink

2Karl · 2012-05-24 16:54:56

Nah we had to turn a big crank for that.

Awebb · 2012-05-24 16:55:54

apm wrote:

you are programming since you were 6

Me too, actually. My uncle was a CS student back then. I had to learn how to hack his mini game sources in order to reduce the difficulty. I could also read and write when I was put to school and it took me the whole first grade to find out that this is not the usual way to go. My father always thought it was not right to teach a 5 year old how to operate DOS, but yet he insisted on teaching me chess before I was 6, which my mother didn't really like. She thought basic arithmetic was more important. Funny though, besides my uncle, nobody in the family was exactly intellectual or considerably literate, so I wonder what drove them all to raise me to be the geek I am now.

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