7 years old, QBASIC Hunt the Hurkle game... that would be 1988

I started programming last year. My computer science teacher ruined me I think.

For an entire year of java computer science I learned nothing but for loops, if loops, while loops, an basic drawing with TurtleGraphics.

With java being an Object Oriented Programming Language, I'm a little ammused that our teacher never taught us how to create methods or classes. In fact, I just learned how to make/use methods last month by accident when I was learning python functions.

It's fun though. I'm amused that I'm just as good in python after a week of googling than I am in java after 1 1/2 years of java at my school.

If you consider php a programming language (it kinda is) I started it last summer. Now I also know the basics of java and I'm starting C but I'm not very advanced in any of them. I'm still in awe by what people can do and I'm sadly in doubt I'll ever get that good. All I can do is some complicated math equations using OOP, that's really it so far. :\

When:

1982 (aged 23) basic on a Casio FX702P 1802 bytes of programming memory
1983 basic on an Oric 1 with 48 Kbytes or RAM, 240x200 hi-res color graphics on TV and a cassette interface
1984 C / Unix Version 7 on an LSI11/23 based computer, 30 MB H/D, first touched the real thing.
then mostly C on various UNIX, plus some of f77 (dumb), pascal (boring), smalltalk-80 (really cool), C++ (ugly).

Since 1997 Java mostly but still some C, and a lot of shell scripts too.

Why:
because it was fun, and I wanted to make my job of it.

2002
Started learning C++ and stoped after i reached the if and else statments <-- not sure why but for some reason they confused me.

2004
After learning linux and building some script statements picked up C++ again and got fustrated by my own simple programs failing.


Started learning C about a month ago this seams like the winner i can actually make programs that work. Still in the begining phase I think at least. If and elese statements dont confuse me anymore and i wonder why they did in the first place. Why Im learning this and Ive been asked this alot is cause I want to as a hobby not for a job or anything. I really like C even tho its a little advanced for basic programs But how i figure it might as well learn the right way and not the script way. I do belive because of the MS influence into programming there will be a day when no one knows code and everyone just knows only 4th generation programming languages like perl and VB


THAT DAY IS DOOMS DAY :P

I started around 1976, on an electro-mechanical device :)
using something similar to the later CASIO programmable
calculators ... I was mainly interested in programming to
solve "problems" with "large numbers", e.g. calculating the
factorial of 1000 :) ... btw, that took about three days to
process on that thing ;) and the precision was quite lacking.
It had 56Bytes of memory plus 12 variables ;D


Cheers,
Tink

We had a Vic20 and some Pet's in Junior High School. I wanted to cheat at the video games in the Pets. For example, instead of scoring 10 points for something, score 100 points. I began looking at the code (BASIC).

Two years later, I mastered machine language on the 6502. Remember this?

LDA#$0C
JSR $FFD2

My goodness! Puts the letter "L" on the screen (as opposed to STA$, which is POKE). That's right - not ASCII compliant. One accumulator, one x register, one y register, and "indirect addressing" like LDA($00),Y. What were they thinking?!?

So, my assembly language teacher in high school noticed that I already knew all there was for the class, so he sent me off to the brand-spanking new IBM PC rooms, where I would learn assembler there and teach it to him; that was my assignment for the semester. I ended up programming professionally in assembler at the age of 16, doing wonderful things like creating a printer driver for the Canon Laser Enginer, which had that wonderful Tall Tree Systems JLaser board. I did the Epson FX80 emulation for the driver. Oh yeah, also did some LOGO (the "turtle" language) in high school.

Eventually, I did Pascal, but I picked up Stephen Prata's first "C++ Primer Plus" book and learned C++. Then I did Paradox 3.5 and Foxpro 2.0 programming, got into CGI, and ended up in the Linux world. From there, bash, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and Perl. I had to "unlearn" the conveniences of C++ to do C programming, because I wanted to write PHP extensions. I think I code better now that I do C instead of C++. I even did some PostGreSQL shared objects in C which are loaded as functions.

Next? Probably Python and Ruby.

QBasic for 1 year when I was 11. Then learnt C++, (and a little assembly here and there). At about 14-15, went back and finished learning assembly (started using Linux). Here everything kicked off and I went on 'language overdrive'.

When I was 14 I bought a C++ book... it wasn't good at all to comprehend if you're a first time programmer, this book's name is C++: A Beginner's Guide by Schildt. Please don't pick it up if you have never programmed before in your life.
Later on that year, I bought a book on Java and that's what taught me most of the stuff I know, migrating to C++ through "C++: A Beginner's Guide" was easy now that I understood concepts.
Later on, a friend of mine lent me a pirated e-book (Yes, I'm proud saying this, I'm not going to fork out $66.6(recurring)USD just to buy some thin book) of that C book.... the one that everyone loves to read but really it doesn't help too much.
All in all, I probably started programming because then I can help others pirate software (Crack them, etc) for the good of mankind. [That and making some awesome Calculus and advanced Physics programs....]
Nobody bring up "stealing" because the open source world is a communist world.

I'll bring up stealing because no matter what you want to claim you are a lousy stinking thief. Communist nothing... the open source movement may have a communist flavor but it is not all communist. Read something other the GPL which counts as an open source license.

On top of that, some people develop commercial code to pay for their basic needs so they can develop open source code with their free time. By stealing from their commercial efforts you are stealing from the community by making them work harder for the commercial code to pay off.

Don't kid yourself... you're absolute scum. If you have a problem with commercial code then don't develop it. But taking pride in being a low life is not something you can demand people tolerate.

That's kinda harsh.. you really hurt me there.
Regardless, here's my argument from another post: "Oh right, by the way, I didn't grow up in any first world countries to experience original merchandise at their intended prices.."
You'd understand if you lived where I am, either you get stuff at an inflated price, or you get it at a super super super low, or free, price by pirating.
I don't feel sorry for myself because I pirate, nor do I cry when it turns out that I'm pirating.
You have no right to judge me like that, and according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 12:
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.

Article 2:
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status....

Article 19:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; ...

Article 1:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

You owe me an apology, mister. ;}

Like I care where you grew up. That doesn't make a difference in the case of a specialty item like software. We aren't talking food here... we are talking a product you can live without. Don't give me this boo-hoo I didn't grow up rich "like you" garbage because it doesn't fly.

And I wouldn't understand where you are even if I was in your situation... because I don't take things that aren't mine. This means I do not buy software if I can't afford it. As I survive on way less than most people can imagine, this means I NEVER buy software. I don't have one single commercial software product, game, or book on my computer. I manage to survive just fine. I haven't resorted to being a thief because my eyes are bigger than my wallet.

Why not draw attention to the important part of this? Right because then you would recall that this wasn't arbitrary... you admitted to being a thief and wanted that to be excused away as something noble. You, sir, have no honour... do not act like I could attack something you don't have.

As for the rest of your pitiful thieving apologetics... opinion is one thing... action is another. I can believe that wealth should be equally distributed. That makes me have an opinion. But when I steal from someone because I think they are wrong for having more than others... that makes me a thief.

I owe you nothing but a swift digital kick in the bum. If you want my apology you'll need a proctologist to find it.

Nice to see that you came up with a good come-back..
You've won the prize for outsmarting someone almost 10 years younger than you!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Also, you're so righteous, I wish I was a GOOD boy scout like you.
Like, save the trees man! ANIMAL RIGHTS!

I guess I started when I was 13, where I learned QBASIC in middle school. Yeah, that was the last time I touched that language.


I didn't really get going until I entered Purdue University when I was 18. There I learned asm, C, C++, Java, Python, Perl, Kornshell and a couple HDLs.


Since then I've still program on a regular basis and have been teaching myself Lua for my game project, which is likely one of the easiest languages I've ever learned.

Please, do not play the age card here. I have been shown up by people half my age when I was making rash statements... so it isn't like age is a huge deal. Especially since, in a digital world, ideas matter and not age.

Am I a hippie? You think so when you comment about me like on the last line. I'll give you one thing, it was a very astute observation. Most people would have placed me to the far right of the political spectrum from my comments about code ownership. But you nailed it. I am about as far left as you can get. I've called people "comrade" before without it being a joke. And, although I do not support all the tenants of communism nor any of the systems that have come into existence under that term, I do feel an attraction to it which is sullied by people who desire to equate it (and it's goals) with theft.

I create code and I give it away. You will not find any code where I have gotten money in return for it. You'll find tons of code where I have been rewarded with a beer for my efforts. The BEER-WARE license happens to be my favorite because of that. I'm not out to make money but stealing is not the way to balance the system. If you can't afford commercial products, use the free ones. Support them with your time and effort -- using free software is often like being a beta-tester for them. Just reporting your errors can often lead to the code becoming better. People give code away because they want you to use it. Don't take the code that has been sullied by greed and selfish desire.

I love the fact that you have ideas for programs you want to create, and presumably give away to others. I just believe that your time would be better spent working towards those ideals then stealing software; that is helping no one.

And I a tree-hugging idealist. Sure... I won't deny it. Am I a boy scout? Nope... not anymore. I left and my beliefs would keep me from returning if I desired to.

Anyway... if you really believe in the ideals of communism then trust me... theft is not the way to further them. Especially theft of software which sends the wrong message... it tells them you desire their product enough to do what it takes to get it. It also tells them that the free software movement is about stealing from them... and not about what it is really for.

This is the BEER-WARE license. Just in case you wondered.