My first was a Commodore 128, which you almost always ran in C64 mode because
most of the software was written for the C64 rather than break compatibility
with the established user base. I was probably 7 years old. If anyone had a
Commodore you may recall that the OS was a BASIC interpreter. Remember LOAD
"*",8,1 ?
My dad was a controls technician, and he got the Commodore because he had to
learn how to program logic controllers in BASIC. They still controlled
machinery with more basic components, but digital controllers were the path
forward because you could change or correct a process machine without rewiring
it. He had a book of example programs and I would type them out and run them.
By age 9 I could do some pretty solid GOTO and GOSUB spaghetti. In high school
the drafting class started with pencils and then you transitioned to AutoCAD in
the 2nd year, and then I learned LISP because AutoCAD had a LISP interpreter
built in.
I think in the mid 90's there was a crop of kids that grew up in a world of
scripts and BASIC code on Apples and Commodores. DOS .bat scripts too. When
you wanted to hire entry level PC repair or tech support people there was this
pool of kids who already had useful knowledge and interest. I don't know how
today's youth learn anything in the pointy-clicky world they grow up in, but
I'd bet it's not so easy to hire young nerds.
I also wonder if you old guys feel the same about me. "Spoiled kid grew up
with high level languages. He'll never understand digital logic like we do
since we had to learn with paper tapes, and switches, and punch cards."
Was there some guy from the 1930's saying "Kids these days with their punch
cards! They never had to place instructions on a mechanical drum computer so
they'll never understand the sequencing and timing like we do."
-Adam
-----Original Message-----
From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Bill Prince
Sent: Friday, May 03, 2024 2:56 PM
To: af@af.afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
Oh yeah. My first interaction with a computer was at the local JC in northern
Minnesota. We had a teletype that was connected to "something"
at U of M in Minneapolis. We would punch out programs (I think in Basic or
Fortran) onto paper tape, then feed the program through the paper tape reader
attached to the teletype.
The first computer I ever touched was one made by Olivetti. It was a desktop
thing roughly 2'x2', and maybe 6 or 8 inches tall. Programs could be keyed in
through a front keypad, and stored on a magnetic card about the same size as a
Hollerith card. Memory was very limited, I remember only about 120 or so words,
but it had a couple dozen registers. You could sacrifice some of the registers
to hold instructions, and stretch your program beyond 120 words depending on
how cleverly you could sacrifice registers. The thing had 2 lights above the
keypad, one green and one red. The green light would flash every time an
instruction was executed (about 1 per second, except for floating point).
Floating point instructions took several seconds each. If you did something
illegal (like divide by zero), the red light would come on, and the program
halted.
My bit-banging days were with a little company called EMR (Electro-Mechanical
Research IIRC). Big ass machine maybe 20 or 25 feet long and almost 7 feet
tall. Had core memory measured in KB (way less than 1 MB). Rather than cooling
the core memory, it was kept in an oven that held it at a constant 50° C (or
close to that). It took two "cards"
to make a flip flop; each card was roughly 4x4 inches and would have either
AND, OR, NAND, NOR gates on it. They would cross-couple a couple of NAND gates
to make 1 flip flop. Discrete components; all diodes and transistors. When we
repaired a problem; usually isolated to a single card, we would take the bad
card back to the shop and replace the bad diode or transistor.
bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
On 5/3/2024 10:51 AM, Chuck McCown via AF wrote:
> First computer I actually programmed was an altair 8080 programmed
> with the front panel switches.
> First computer I ever touched and played with was a terminal connected
> to a mainframe somewhere in a science museum in Oregon. It had a moon
> lander simulator on it.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Bill Prince
> Sent: Friday, May 3, 2024 11:24 AM
> To: af@af.afmug.com
> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction
> Code
>
> I programmed the first computers I worked on in binary. You would
> fat-finger instructions in through the front console, one bit at a time.
>
> bp
> <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
>
> On 5/3/2024 10:12 AM, Larry Smith via AF wrote:
>> On Fri May 3 2024 11:37, Chuck McCown via AF wrote:
>>> At least I am not older than FORmula TRANslation or Common Business
>>> Oriented Language.
>> Hmmm, I programmed in both....
>>
>
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