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Failed my last year of University* because I had been playing World of Warcraft too much.
I still lived at home and my parents weren't pleased.
They just sold their IT company to an uncle, an employee and a third that wasn't with the company until he bought it.
My mom said "you're going to find a job or I'll do it for you, you can start there!"
And I said "but I don't even know how to write code!"
And then she gently whispered "THEN YOU'LL F***ING LEARN! "
And so I was hired because I was the son of old management and the nephew of new management and also because I had some affinity with computers, being a gamer and all.
No one in this story regretted that decision.
I liked programming and I learned it very quickly.
I learned a lot, wrote some great software, introduced some new technology to the company, made them a lot of money (earned some myself as well), and then I moved on after four years
Another five or so years later and here I am
*I still finished that last year of University, earning me the title Master of Arts
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haha what a great story. you must be one of the youngun's here like me. WoW during your college years kind of gave it away.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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You're not young, 40 is like ancient
And with 31 (almost 32) I'm not that young myself anymore
WoW came out when I was still in high school.
I'd say I'm a little too young to have played Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, but I have played Age of Empires which was released only two years later
I've played Warcraft III though.
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good. my highest aspiration is to become a crazy cat lady. or one of those old haggy witches that gets dragged through the village square and burned (my retirement plan #aesthetic)
and I'm 41 now. It was my birthday last wednesday.
aged a whole year in the past week
probably your fault.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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honey the codewitch wrote: 42 is when they let you in on the Big Secret(TM)
What? WHAT DID I MISS?
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apparently life, the universe and everything?
sorry dandy
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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Well, I knew about that, but I guess I never realized there was a lesson to it...
Is there a test I can take again?
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I've been meaning to tell you that I start with the braces.
Then delete them.
I'm not joking.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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well you'll be happy to know that due to my aversion to this:
}
}
}
}
}
I've been using Refactor->Extract Method
what a wonderful feature.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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Beware!
I AM young... still...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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I was fortunate enough to convince my parents to get me a ZX Spectrum as a Christmas present in 84, when I was 13.
In those days, you could buy magazines that contained BASIC print outs for games.
I learnt to debug before learnt to program. You'd type in a program, run it and get some weird result - and have to try to figure out where I'd miskeyed something.
I started being able to see how the bug could manifest itself given the code I'd entered - something I believe I'm better at than most programmers.
From there it was a matter of modifying the programs, and mashing bits of them together into new ones.
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I started as an operator in late '65 on LEO III systems. One of my colleagues taught me how to key in a program using the buttons on the front panel (WTF you may well ask). From there it was a small step to writing machine code and punching it up on paper tape or Hollerith cards, which could be self booted into the machine. I was hooked!
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oldschool. back when men were men and the bugs were actual bugs.
i like it.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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The single, most important event that motivated me to start coding was when I solderd together my first computer, flipped the power switch and the LED displays came to life and some more tinkering and I got cool 64x32 pixel video on an ancient black and white TV. Look here.[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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neat! i love projects like that but my hands aren't steady enough to solder well these days.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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The old one still works, but I want to build a new one over the winter. With 16 mb RAM.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
modified 9-Sep-19 10:34am.
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I hope with that much ram you're going to upgrade its display a little. =)
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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The old one will stay as it was, but the new one will get a few more modern things. How about using a SD card or USB stick as a hard disk? Or maybe I can find a PIC microcontroller that can generate a VGA signal. Nothing fancy, like 256 colors and 320 x 240 (more likely 160x120)
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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these days I'm sure you can. What with all the hobbyist kits out there now. best of luck with this project.
i've been considering building a custom ECU for certain types of diesel engines - the kind used in schoolbusses and other medium industrial vehicles making them more suitable as boondocking vehicles, but i didn't have the property i needed to be able to work on one until maybe now. We'll see. It's a hail mary of an idea, but it's kind of cool if anything comes of it.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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Schoolbus? How boring
The Elf's CDP1802 was the first processor to fly into space. It was even believed that it was aboard the Viking and Voyager probes, but that's probably not true. That would be great when Voyager Six returns.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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the exciting part isn't so much the tech, but what can be done with it.
When I was growin' up, I was the smartest kid I knew. Maybe that was just because I didn't know that many kids. All I know is now I feel the opposite.
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Meant to ask how the Cosmic(?) Elf coming along?..
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