How I Learned to Program circa 1978

Just for fun, here's a vintage photo of what it was like learning to program in BASIC back in 1978.

Spend a couple hours punching in one line of code per card. Hand the stack of cards to the person at the counter (you didn't actually think you got to operate the computer yourself, did you?). Get the print out of your program a couple of hours later. Easy peasy!

#LearnToProgramRoanoke #Vintage

Book Review: Head First JavaScript Programming

Head First JavaScript Programming

By: Eric T. Freeman, Elisabeth Robson

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Print: March, 2014

 

 The fun way to learn how to program

Pros : Helpful examples, Fun Style, Easy to understand

An excellent gateway for learning to program. The introduction clearly spells out who this book is designed for, why the concepts are presenting the way they are and how the reader can best use the book for learning JavaScript. On top of that, this book is just fun.

For the more experienced, you can select the chapters where you need to sharpen your skills and be adequately challenged.

You can browse through this blog and lots of others for tips and tricks related to JavaScript, all little bits and pieces thrown about on the web.  Sure, there are good pointers in of all of that, but do you get to really know how to effectively program in JavaScript? Now there is this book to get you the rest of the way there!

Thirty years of Personal Computers

My first introduction to computers was in 1978 at Eastern Illinois University. Although it was not my major (Medical Technology), I took a summer class in Basic programming, which was offered through the Mathematics department. The Computer Science department didn't exist yet. Programs where typed in on a keypunch machine, the stack of punch cards handed over to someone at the computer room and then wait until the next day to retrieve your output printed on paper.

Fast forward to 1984 when, after working in the forensic pathology lab for a couple of years, I was able to purchase my very own personal computer.  It was an used Tandy TRS 80. I was quickly frustrated by the limited 4K of RAM (yep, that's 4,000 bytes of memory) and excruciatingly slow cassette tape method of loading and saving programs.  So, just a couple of months later I purchased a bright and shiny Apple IIc with monochrome monitor (green screen), a whopping 128K of RAM and two (count them, two!) 5.25 inch floppy drives.  It was, at the time, amazing!

The rest, as they say, is history.  I could write a long list of computers I've owned since then, but maybe that will be another post someday.

It wouldn't be a decent blog post if I didn't link to something, so for old times sake, go take a look at the Jargon File - where you'll find all sorts of interesting history and terminology.  And happy 38th birthday to Apple, which was founded in April, 1976.