Well...my first introduction to computers was...guess...
come on..guess...
.....
Aww alright I'll tell ya :)
Computer GAMES! :)
Yup.
Shamus, DoubleDragon, Jet...those were what I used the old ITT Xtra XP for:)
That was our first computer..huge 5 1/4" floppies that went bad very quickly
in our tropical climate..especially since I live in a valley. Nice and warm
during the day..then chilly at night. Diskettes don't like those conditions
very much :)
After that most of my drive to learn the intricacies of DOS and the computer
came from trying to get these silly games to work. back in those days you
had to do a very carefuly balancing act between the device drivers you
loaded in DOS, and the amount of free conventional memory you have to play
the game. So memory locations, loading stuff High all of that I was
motivated to learn through wanting to play these games..lol lol :)
Then came programming....hey...I could make my OWN game! I got a few books
on QBasic, and fooled around with peeking and poking ASCII characters to the
screen, then graduated to VB 3.0 where I learnt the wonders of the windows
API ,Box Boundaries, and Btblitting..or is that blttl..uhh..bitblt?
Bitblt..yeah..I think that's it ^_^
My father then gently nudged me into databases, and I started off with
Foxpro and writing some applications for him...and that sort of started me
off on my current path. I had to always keep up with the latest memory
managers, OS upgrades, drivers and technologies because the games I so loved
to play demanded it. In order to run them as best as they could run, i had
to know the PC inside out.
I created a few of my own games...then discovered Soft Ice and Trainer
software..got into a small amount of assembly language through trying to
crack the copyprotection on ..darn I forget..RISK or something like
that..whatever it was, was back in the 386 days.
I did Computer Science in High School, and did quite well.
University wasn't like that..the stream I entered forced us to do higher
math and *choke* physics to round out our credits. They have since changed
their requirements, in that if you are doing a CS degree..then you do a CS
degree with Computer Science subjects, and none of this crazy mix like
M10Calculus and Physics and then three computer courses a semester. Needless
to say I got frustrated and *gasp* dropped out of University. The change
unfortunately didn't come soon enough for me ;-).
It wasn't hard for me to get a job though, as I had worked in several
computer firms here in Trinidad during summer vacations etc. doing databases
and more recently some web work, so my experience and what I could do was
well known.
Which brings me where I am now.
Working at a rather boring ,stressful day job(which reminds me I should call
the office and let them know I won't be in today *snicker*) , and trying to
start a business,maintain the confidence of investors,and manage a small
staff of quirky volunteers, AND write the damned site myself...and it's all
based on..yep..:Computer Games! LOL! Carigamer.com :-)
Perhaps if my father had just bought a damned Nintendo for me like I'd
wanted I would be in Business or Economics or something,fighting to learn MS
Word ^_^
*sigh*
Oh the nostalgia.....
So while I had formal training in Computing and theory..I was into it long
before that, and programming long before I actually knew what algorithms
etc. were.
So do I think that one needs a copious knowledge of Math and 'logic'
training to be good at computers..nope.
I just can't say I agree with that, based on my own experience.
For reasons described above...I just sort of took to the little machines and
the subject.And I'm sure there are many others like me who essentially
taught themselves..and the rest came after.
And this will happen more and more as actual "programming" becomes less of a
knowledge of what syntax to use, and where to put a freaking ; and a ' ' and
more about what you actually want to accomplish, and the best way to do
that.
Why don't we have Natural Language programming by now?
I know that programming needs to be precise..but why is it still so cryptic?
In Oracle you can build a database graphically by defining a schema..and
that is way cool..but why don't we have more applications like that?
Why can't I block functions and sub-functions in a Flow diagram and link
them together graphically?
Or see a graphical representation of a Fusebox application automatically in
a diagram?
The Index..and the subsequent CFINCLUDed pages..I hover my mouse over one of
the boxes representing a page..and I see the Query names, the variables..the
variables that are passed on..stored in memory..etc. so I can easily analyse
the program, see where everything is and how its all related right there
infront me.
And when I decide I want to add a variable, I right click, add the variable
to the page/program (application variable?), drag it across to the Form that
is opened on my second monitor and it creates a Text Form Field since the
datatype is varchar. ANd it asks me if I want to add Validation..I say yes.
It asks what sort of validation? Required..list of values..etc. etc. and I
clickity click..
Then it asks me if I want the text box to be animated...would you like a
moving picture in the back..want it to change color..(FLASH after all) etc.
etc.
and then click Generate.
And my new Fuseboxed HTML Form is created.
I KNOW this can be done....but why hasn't it been done?
Why are we still doing things in text and adding tags for every little thing
when there are so many conceivably easier ways to do things?
This thread alone has proved what a diverse background many of us come from,
and we're now working with the web and 'programming'...from the artsy fartsy
types(^_^), to Dances-With-Horsies..to eclectic islanders.
I think we need to make talking to the machines and getting them to do what
we want easier..in order for us to get more people talking to the machines
and more machines doing what we want.
-Gel
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