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I was in college. It was my junior year, I had to declare a major. In the prior two years, I only had 2 "A" grades... studio art, and C++. It took me about 5 minutes to decide C++ would provide a better job.
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For all those C developers both past and present I wonder how many of them would take kindly to hearing that C is a simple language?
Especially considering that so many other languages have their dependencies on the C language (Java) in order to execute.
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ATARI BASIC, on an Atari 400 with 16KB of RAM!
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Yea, I remember that. I can remember using Atari Writer to write a paper and wanted it to look nice, so I clicked Format. I guess you know what the outcome was!
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Yup - that was how I started.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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All those pretty curly braces.
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Just about had a computing degree, had a support job, had a mate who worked somewhere recruiting for a developer, somewhere that was much closer to where I lived, got given the job, became a programmer, 15 years later don't seem to be able to shake it off.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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I used to be in mortgage finance and saw a Fox Pro developer working one day. I started to look over his shoulder from time to time and was intrigued. After hanging out, and asking a lot of questions, the dev said I should look into a career switch, since I showed more interest in software development then getting people the best deal on their mortgage refinances.
I then went to attend a VB 6 "boot-camp" and learned the basics of programming in 6 months  . Then went on to get my comp sci degree. I have been a successful software engineer ever since.
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 this is very inspiring!
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
// No comment
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Besides BASIC being the first programming language I used, FORTRAN IV the second, it was VB4 and FoxPro that sealed the deal for me. FoxPro brings back good memories and thanks for mentioning it.
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Start in column seven.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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It had lots of buttons, and I liked buttons as a kid. It made noises, I could actually control the TV screen with it which had previously been only the domain of the BBC and ITV. There were some wires too, and they're pretty cool.
It was one awesome bit of electronics and on that basis, I had to know more.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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T'is the dungeons of human philosophy that I excavated in order to uncover the miraculous key to the unremitting complexity of the human mind.
--
The trouble with people,
is that they want to hear only what they want to hear.
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The programming is for fun.
They give me money to stop me from doing bad things.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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They give me "injunctions" and "cease-and-desist" letters... 
Money would be a nice change! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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My very first "program" was on a Texas pocket calculator (was a TI-57 programmable). At that time (late '70) there was almost nothing else for a "normal" teenager.
However, the list should be revised because 40 years ago there were a small set of choices, unless you were some super-scientist or so...
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Most of the polls are put together with little thought.
I agree with you comment.
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Old school, simple procedural language. 
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
// No comment
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I was living at home and failed my last year at university because I was to busy playing World of Warcraft.
Needless to say my parents weren't amused. My mom said, and I quote, "You're going to find a job, you don't have a choice. Either you find one or I'll find one for you. I know they need people at [software company my parents had just sold]" and so I applied for a trainee position, and that was the start of my IT career
And for the record, I've been clean from World of Warcraft for about five years now and I still got my university degree
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AND your epix! 
Recursion: see Recursion.
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It was the whole idea: whirring tape decks; piles of punch cards; serious looking people in glasses smoking, and looking at printouts.
It was clear that this was indoor work, with no heavy lifting. I wanted in!
It was 5 or so years after that that I "met" my first computer (ICL 1902 running GEORGE III) at university and was taught my first computer language: COBOL.
I suspect that if COBOL had been taught when I first found out computers even existed, I'd have gone into a different career altogether...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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That's basically it but some years later
I came to know about computers because my neighbor got one got his birthday. I was around 8 at the time and the machine was a ZX Spectrum +[^].
One year later, and due to my instant fascination for the thing, my mother bought me what came to be my first computer and where I wrote my first lines of code: Timex 2048[^].
And all this was roughly 30 years ago... I'm old!
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