On Sun, 14 May 2000 05:12:31 -0400 (EDT), Thomas Mueller wrote:
> to Sam Heywood: Was that raw machine language that you programmed? I heard
> about the original computer programmers programming machine language bit by bit,
> setting a lot of switches to the on or off position.
Yes, that is exactly what I did. I still have a couple of old
micro-processor programming trainers complete with manuals and
practical exercises to include all kinds of interesting experiments
for controlling various electronic devices. These trainers are each
provided with two LED 8-segment displays and a provision for hooking
up the device to an ordinary B&W TV set. You can even program an
"Alien Invaders" game this way with output to your TV screen. How's
that for blazing fast performance and features for a machine limited
to just 256 bytes of memory? (Yes, I did say bytes, not kilobytes.)
Programming by this method, although very tedious, laborious, and
time-consuming, is highly educational. If I had not been introduced
to programming at this level, I think I might still have developed the
same programming skills that I have today, but I would never have
gained any valid concept as to how computers actually work! This is
one of the reasons why I am a supporter of the "back to basics" theory
of education. When it comes to learning anything new, we will always
learn the most when we can start from square one. Whenever we should
run into a problem with how much we think we know, the problem can most
often be solved simply by backing up to square one again.
Sam Heywood
-- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
