Then you, sir, are in the realm of the Computer God to me smile
emoticon I have people who look up to me because I was there for
the 80s tech and music. [retro computing and retrogaming has
made a comeback in younger generations] - but not ONLY do you
know your way around a soldering iron (mine always came out COLD
and lumpy) - but it was to make a computer. Plus... I love the
green screens. Many hours in front of mainframe terminals
talking to ppl via email and BITNET chat and IRC at the
university computer lab. I think I was supposed to be
programming more but I did some smile emoticon == Yup. That's
hardcore right there. I don't hardly do any programming anymore
myself. I used to write things from BASIC (peek/poke are the
closest I got to assembler) and I'll hack code when necessary
now - plus I like learning a LITTLE of all the languages...
..but generally, I just look for the easiest way to accomplish
my goal that costs nothing. It might take 7-8 programs in a row
(nothing more complicated than batch files to tie them together)
to make something happen but I'll do that rather than writing
something for it. After all, other ppl did part of the work, so
I'll just use what they did smile emoticon == One of my greatest
presents for my Tandy Color Computer 2 was the "Orchestra-90 CC"
cartridge. Stereo, 5 voices. I had to program the sound shapes
myself in code. My cassette recorder could only do mono and my
cord wasn't a Y, so I lost the right channel - but here's the
left channel of one of 11/12 yr old Ken's compositions
programmed in. == yeah - it would wake someone up... I was
combining sine, triangle and sawtooth waves having no clue about
Fourier transforms, just making weird combos 'til I got a sound
I liked. == Same here. That BASIC book in the picture with me in
it, I read it cover to cover 'til the glue in the backing broke,
lost pages. Just about memorized it. Loved experimenting with
it. Kids today have Python which is very similar in simplicity
to BASIC and more powerful of course, so I'm glad the tradition
continues. == oh! I *do* have a Model 100 clone in my possession
somewhere, along with others. About 8 yrs ago, I collected a
bunch of portable computers from that era and typewriters.
Whenever I could find them. My favorite was an Epson PX-8
running CP/M. and had a microcassette. I actually used that one
for a while... in the 2000s too. Got it off ebay for like $30
and had blast with it. I should put the AAs back in and see if
it still works tongue emoticon == Yup. There's always a role to
play if you're in a position to bridge gaps between eras.
There's always going to be legacy code. Today's code will be the
legacy code of tomorrow, etc. == Perl is on my list of languages
I want to learn, or at least gain a familiarity with. BASIC -
with the line numbers and all - is still my go-to mental
language, but usually i can translate once i get an overview of
the new code. Some are simple: PHP was a no-brainer because it's
a lot like Pascal, which was a lot like BASIC. I played around
with LISP, which was similar to Excel which I already mastered
through work, and most functional programming I can analogize to
Excel with a *little* brain twisting. yeah, I think programming
is an excellent skill. Or at least a little hacking. I think it
helps the brain - makes you think sideways at a problem rather
than just following someone else's steps. You can make your own
steps. == My nephew has been becoming a pro at
[1]
http://www.cheatengine.org/ - he surprised me the other day
when he applied cheat engine (which he initially used to hack
Cube World because he saw it on youtube - and I walked him
through his first time) - to a new game that *didn't* have
someone showing the steps on youtube. He dragged me in to show
me that he was able to change some of his stats with it. It's
cool because cheat engine is generic and works with lots of
things... and this way of "thinking sideways" at an issue I
think is really valuable. == PHP is very easy to pick up and
use. The thing I hate about it is that you become VERY DEPENDENT
upon a particular version, at least I've had to. I've got old
websites up running on old versions of PHP with security flaws I
can't close UNLESS I want to rewrite the code _because_ the
original author abandoned it and I've heavily customized it to
my needs.... so all that spaghetti? I'm not upgrading that. ==
It's a tricky area in the code-monkey world 'cause then you have
to enumerate conceptual masteries. But of what? I think with
some of it, you can find long lists of skillsets with checkboxes
for every programming language out there. They have to exist.
There's higher level conceptual thinking that's in the realm of
engineering constructs... but business never understands ANY
kind of engineers. == Yeah, you definitely need an Explorer
merit badge with accompanying title and payscale change, for
sure. == I write anywhere there is a text box open that accepts
my input. Everything is a typewriter smile emoticon But if I'm
in an app/program that does not do copy/paste properly, I get
very very angry indeed tongue emoticon === - I had some exposure
to TeX in 1990/1991 and learned a little of it (the raw) but
then put it aside for another 25 years until a few months ago, I
downloaded a "Microsoft Word"-like TeX creator for Windows which
seemed easy enough to use yet pretty powerful for typesetting. I
don't have a need for that level of sophistication, but I'm glad
I have it available on my computer if I need it. = I was a pro
at the Orchestra-90 for the Color Computer. Lived in it. I found
an emulator for it and downloaded a bunch of songs. I _still_
have the original data on cassette.. although I have a sneaking
remember that the cassette broke at one point - not sure, which
would require tape and a sharp razor. Maybe one day I'll see if
I can get the data up to today, run it through the emulator,
make an MP4, and let it live again in full stereo. For now, I'm
just happy I had thought ahead to record at least a few of the
songs in audio form at the time smile emoticon ==
References
Visible links
1.
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cheatengine.org%2F&h=UAQGqJf6r
