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With the recent brouhaha about vulnerabilities in many relatively recent processors, I got to thinking back to the time when I first started programming. Back then, things seemed so much simpler and much more straightforward.
To start off the new year, I thought it might be interesting to find out how people got their start in programming.
My first exposure to programming was by means of a Teletype over a dialup line using an acoustical coupler to a PDP-8 computer running TSS/8 and which had 24 KB of RAM. At the time, Star Trek ToS was on the air, and I thought this was the new, big thing. I was quickly disappointed by it not measuring up to anything like what I saw on TV, but I saw it had promise. Started with BASIC (and FOCAL). Later on was exposed to a PDP-11 running RSTS/E and programmed in BASIC+ as well as some Pascal.
As for owning a computer, the first one I bought was an OSI[*] Challenger 4P with a whopping 4KB of RAM!
From those humble beginnings, I ate up everything I could lay my hands on and later worked for a wide variety of companies that ranged in size from major internationals to tiny startups. Even had a hand in a project for Formula 1!
So, my fellow Soylentils, how did you get started programming? Where has it taken you?
[*] One day when my girlfriend came over and saw the OSI logo on my computer her eyes got huge! You see, The Six Million Dollar Man was on television at that time, and she suddenly suspected I was connected to the "Office of Scientific Intelligence"!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tfried on Thursday January 04 2018, @09:56PM
The Archon, he? I see you were not in it for the programming, too much... Well, neither was I, but yes, the one thing that makes the C64 a distinct memory is how its ROM said "Hi there! How would you like to program me right now?" in a way that I did not ever see again in my personal history of computing.
The C64 was my first "real" computer, and my primary computer for at least four years straight. Unfortunately, thinking back to the (lack of) sophistication of the programming I did on it just makes me shudder today. Well, I guess we all started basic, even if it wasn't BASIC on the C64. But to me, programming will always start with "38911 Basic Bytes Free".