I'll start :)
All self-taught:
Age 5 => Apple II BASIC
Age 8 => QBASIC
Age 14 => Visual Basic 6
Age 16 => Borland Turbo C++
Age 18 => PHP and never looked back
Age 19 => Started DaniWeb
Plus, of course, there's HTML, CSS, and JS on the front-end.
Jump to Post— Reverend Jim 6,665I started with BASIC (self taught). I was in first year chemical engineering and a friendly professor let me use his account to tinker. After a while I realized I'd rather work with computers than chemicals and switched to computer science. First year was all Waterloo FORTRAN. Starting in second …
— Reverend Jim 6,665Jump to Post
I started with BASIC (self taught). I was in first year chemical engineering and a friendly professor let me use his account to tinker. After a while I realized I'd rather work with computers than chemicals and switched to computer science. First year was all Waterloo FORTRAN. Starting in second year I picked up a few more languages (PL/1, APL, SNOBOL, COBOL), and a few more in third year (ASSEMBLER, ALGOL). The remainder (Paradox, Python, SQL, etc.) are all self taught.
APL is still the coolest language I worked with.
I distinctly remember being in preschool and getting an Apple IIGS. I remember helping my mom unbox it and her handing me the manual that it came with, which included a BASIC reference sheet. It said that I could boot with Ctrl+Open Apple+Reset into a BASIC interpreter, and from there I started doing things like PRINT 5 + 3 = and getting a kick out using it to check my homework. (Note: I never cheated!) Eventually I upgraded to prompts and variables and GOTO statements.
I started teaching myself around 1983 on BASICA with a smattering of Assembly, then onto QuickBasic, Basic PDS, Visual Basic for DOS, and Visual Basic (Classic) versions 3, 4, 5, and 6. It was never my profession, although I did make a nice chunk of change on custom databases. I somewhat regret not moving onto C, C++, or C#.
I distinctly remember being in preschool and getting an Apple IIGS. I remember helping my mom unbox it and her handing me the manual that it came with, which included a BASIC reference sheet. It said that I could boot with Ctrl+Open Apple+Reset into a BASIC interpreter, and from there I started doing things like
PRINT 5 + 3 =and getting a kick out using it to check my homework. (Note: I never cheated!) Eventually I upgraded to prompts and variables and GOTO statements.
Did you ever walk in a computer store and see a scrolling message on the screen because someone wrote 2 lines of Basic code?
Scrolling message? Not that I can think of? The only computer stores I've been to have been CompUSA, Computer City, Datavision, and Fry's (in its last years of life, only after I moved to California). Sadly, there was no Fry's in NY.
Also, what is your profession, if you don't mind me asking? :)
Scrolling message? Not that I can think of? The only computer stores I've been to have been CompUSA, Computer City, Datavision, and Fry's (in its last years of life, only after I moved to California). Sadly, there was no Fry's in NY.
Also, what is your profession, if you don't mind me asking? :)
Retired Dean in Higher Education.
Yes, MANY years ago when all we had was 40 and 80 column text screens, kids would run a Basic program on the display computers like:
5 CLS
10 Print "Some silly message or their name"
20 Goto 10We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.