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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 04 2018, @08:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-little-bit-at-a-time? dept.

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"!


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:13PM (5 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:13PM (#618058) Homepage Journal

    Heh, my dad got right pissed when I recorded a program over his CCR tape.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:57PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @11:57PM (#618088)

    My dad got his revenge by breaking the tone knob off the tape recorder so my programs would never load from tape again. He tried destroying my floppy disks by crumpling them, but the disk drive could still read the floppies. So my dad cut up my disks with scissors.

    Yes I had an abusive childhood.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Friday January 05 2018, @12:49AM (1 child)

      by anubi (2828) on Friday January 05 2018, @12:49AM (#618129) Journal

      Seen those YouTube dads smashing their kids electronics?

      The lesson taught is priceless. When you dont get your way, smash things

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @02:45AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @02:45AM (#618178)

        No. I don't watch that kind of shit on YouTube because I see enough fucking assholes in real life.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by anubi on Friday January 05 2018, @12:44AM (1 child)

    by anubi (2828) on Friday January 05 2018, @12:44AM (#618125) Journal

    How long did it take before he discovered it?

     

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]