how long did you become a coder?

[codingmasta]

how long did you become a coder?

[codingmasta]

I was a coder since june 2006

[oracleguy]

That is kind of a vague question, are you asking how long did it take to become proficient at a programming language?

[mlseim]

oracleguy is right ... what does the question mean?

I was coding with BASIC back in 1977, even before Gates
created MS-BASIC for Radio Shack and IBM. For those old
enough to remember, we had the old teletype terminals where
you saved your programs on yellow punch tapes.

Just like this: http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/faded/micro/teletype1.jpg

The terminal was hooked to a large remote server via a 300 baud modem.
That was the deal where you stuck the telephone handset into a
box with rubber cups ... similar to this thing:
http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/hardwarediv/hardwaremodem830.jpg


I guess you could call that "coding".

But through the years, as "new" languages became popular, it was
necessary to learn again ... over and over again.

So you become proficient at "programming", but not necessarily an
expert at any one language. That's what is so much fun about this stuff.

Focus on programming structure, instruction flow, proper coding
practices. You might want to learn C++ ... that seemed to be the
most "over-all" language that helped me with all other languages.

[VIPStephan]

For those old
enough to remember, we had the old teletype terminals where
you saved your programs on yellow punch tapes.

Damn, are you old! :D But I remember those stripes and the punched cards:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/IBM1130CopyCard.agr.jpg
My father used to work at the data center of the university and I visited him once in a while. He took me to the computer room where they had those huge “closets” with the magnetic tapes and the keypunch…
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Lochkartenauswerteger%C3%A4t_IBM_mit_Bedienstation.jpg

And I could play computer games (on a two color screen - green on black) before my class mates even have seen one in their lives. :D
And I remember Lode Runner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lode_Runner) on black/white screen.

Anyway… getting off topic here.
I must admit all that was in the 80’s already - in the GDR, where computer development was a couple o'years behind.

And now any average Joe is sitting in front of his Microsoft infected PC, creating crappy websites with Frontpage and calling himself a “coder”.

[Nightfire]

I started on the commodore 64. Good ole fashioned tape decks, couldn't beat it.

[vinyl-junkie]

Damn, are you old! :D But I remember those stripes and the punched cards:
Yep, I sure do! I worked as a keypunch operator for three summers while I was in college. :p

BTW, I don't consider that "coding." ;)

[mlseim]

... and if you ever dropped a stack of those punch cards, you always
hoped that the programmer had numbered the cards. Each card was
an instruction, and as you know, they had to be in the correct order.

[vinyl-junkie]

... and if you ever dropped a stack of those punch cards, you always
hoped that the programmer had numbered the cards. Each card was
an instruction, and as you know, they had to be in the correct order.
How true! I remember a project that I had for one class in which the project was my whole grade for the semester. I didn't sequence my deck, I was getting down to the last few days before the project was due to be turned in and started having nightmares about failing the class all because the operator dropped my deck. :eek: I would never have been able to re-sequence the cards in time. The day that I turned in my project (BTW, I got an A on it), I slept like a baby. :cool:

[mlseim]

Well, now this is getting way-off target with this thread ....

But for those interested in reading more, here's a good site
on decoding those punch cards. I wasn't aware that there were
different sized cards and coding for various companies.
Univac 1108 were the cards I was most familiar with.

http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/codes.html

The Teletype yellow paper tapes were based on ASCII.
But, had a limited character set:
http://www.pdp8.net/asr33/videos/punch.shtml

FYI ... the yellow tape reader/writer punched tiny holes in the
paper tape. The "paper dots" punched-out were collected in a
clear plastic bin. If you threw those at anyone, it would take
days for them to get it out of their hair.


Codingmasta ... sorry for our "trip down memory lane", but you
still might find this interesting.

[nexosis]

I was a coder 2 years ago...had started with html, css, javascript, to php.

[twodayslate]

I started coding in about 2000-2002 (rough estimate) with front page *shutters*. I did not become a decent coder until about last year. I know CSS and HTML and am about to learn PHP and C++.

[VIPStephan]

I was a coder 2 years ago...had started with html, css, javascript, to php.

And what are you now? A taxi driver? :D

[gunuag]

I was a coder since one and a half years old. I started with HTML, then JavaSxript and then started server-side scripting.

[hammerstein06]

1 1/2 years AGO? Or 1 1/2 years old?!!?

[Karen S. Garvin]

The terminal was hooked to a large remote server via a 300 baud modem.

What blinding speed! :p

I started in a typing pool (yes, don't laugh) in 1981, then moved after 3 months into coding manuscripts for the typists. I hand-wrote codes on legal mumbo-jumbo so the typists could key it into the Wang computer via their dumb terminals.

I did text editing via a 110-baud modem that had to be hand-plugged into a phone cradle, and we used Wylbur, which was a line editor. I'm not exactly a professional programmer/coder because that's never been my main job, but I've been at the interface of graphics/typesetting/programming for a very long time (25+ years). And I've owned a personal computer since 1981.