4 ms·

trip down the memory lane: i coded apps (programs we called them, like a small joystick drawing tool or a little program that put out a boilerplate BASIC code)

by franze 11y ago

trip down the memory lane: i coded apps (programs we called them, like a small joystick drawing tool or a little program that put out a boilerplate BASIC code) and games (rpg, asteroid like mini-shooter, ...) on the C64 (basically via "forking" and combining programms available in printed magazines) - but nobody "grown up" saw value in them. i was told not to waste that much time on the computer - and after the energy-supply-thingie went up into flames, i was sent back to watch TV... gladly -as i found out in the first dotcom bubble - that not much has changed. ok, everything has changed, but "writing programs" was still "writing programs" and it wasn't that much of a jump from BASIC to "that stupid subset of PERL that the template engine of that long gone agency used". we should bring back that "printed code" magazines. i mean really just a magazine where there is pure code and only a short discussion about it. not that patronizing how-to shit thats currently available.

rzzzt 11y ago
The power brick supplied with my machine is encased fully in a block of resin on the inside, which meant that one could not get access to the parts easily. It also started to heat up quickly after a while.
DougWebb 11y ago
My family always described what I was doing with my C64 as "playing with the computer". Sure, I played games on it, but I also spent a lot of time typing in those programs from the magazines. Younger developers today are shocked and amazed when I describe the hex dumps with line-by-line checksums they used to print, and that your first challenge was to type in the code-entry program mistake free, without relying on the checksums to get every character correct. To this day, even though I touch-type most of the time, I can still type quickly with one hand, while the other hand is used to keep my place on a printed document I'm transcribing. (Not that I do that much anymore.)
Albright 11y ago
> we should bring back that "printed code" magazines. i mean really just a magazine where there is pure code and only a short discussion about it. not that patronizing how-to shit thats currently available. I think GitHub and the like have filled that space pretty well.
soylentcola 11y ago
Sometime around 1986 or 1987 my dad picked up a used Commodore 128 from a guy he worked with. I was in 3rd grade. I had only the most passing familiarity with computers at that point as the only ones I'd used were the C64 in our school classroom (only rarely were we allowed to use it since there was one computer and several students) and some Tandy or similar at the "rich kid's" house down the street. As a typical nerdy kid interested in sci-fi, robots, and computers, I was immediately obsessed. The guy who sold us the computer must have been into the BBS scene at the time because he included a box of 20-30 floppies labelled with hand-printed stickers and loaded up with all kinds of weird software with cool music and graphics when you started them up. I'd later learn that this was my unwitting introduction to crack intros and pirated software. Since few of these disks were "official", there was only documentation for a handful of programs. I spent the next couple of years slowly discovering and experimenting with all of the programs on these disks as I tried to figure out what they all were. Some were clearly games and some seemed opaque at first but later became an obsession (Zork and several other Infocom titles). The package also included the big book o' Commodore BASIC commands that was included with the retail machine. Between that, BASIC programs from magazines, and figuring out how to LIST a loaded BASIC program, I spent the next several years teaching myself the, er, basics and occasionally trying to "hack" some of the games to give myself way more gold/health/experience by changing different values or POKEing inappropriate numbers in shameful places. Unfortunately, even though I spent hours in that unique ADHD realm known as hyperfocus, writing programs that drew pictures, played music, or simulated an interactive chat (really not that cool, just picking numbers that corresponded to your reply and following a path, choose-your-own-adventure style), my folks also told me to spend less time on the computer. I distinctly recall my well-intentioned stepmother telling me I didn't want to become "a computer nerd". I don't know if they realized how lucrative that stuff could've become had I stuck with it. Either way, as I got older, barring a brief unit on BASIC in a high school computer class (which I aced since I'd pretty much learned it all in grade school), I lost track of programming. I've tried learning more modern languages since then but for whatever reason, the willpower and interest needed to sit down and code just isn't with me anymore. Maybe it's the sense of discovery that's missing in lessons. I still enjoy learning new software when I need it to accomplish a particular task so maybe I need to leverage that if I want to really get back into programming, even as a hobbyist. Learning to use a tool in order to accomplish a particular task is a lot more engaging that learning to use a tool just to learn it. Either way, I credit my early experiences with that Commodore for my continuing love of computers and using them to do fun and interesting things. I may not be a programmer but I'm not afraid to read documentation and learn how things work. I love trying out new features or discovering old ones. My interest in that old SID chip music taught me about MIDI and the C128's graphic commands evolved into my current hobby of creating and displaying digital art and interactive graphics. We kept that C128 as our sole home computer until we eventually got a cheap 386 somewhere in the mid/late 1990's. Never did get that Amiga I wanted but for me, Commodore is the root of my tech-nostalgia and the starting point for many of my current interests and skills.

by franze 11y ago

rzzzt 11y ago

The power brick supplied with my machine is encased fully in a block of resin on the inside, which meant that one could not get access to the parts easily. It also started to heat up quickly after a while.

DougWebb 11y ago

My family always described what I was doing with my C64 as "playing with the computer". Sure, I played games on it, but I also spent a lot of time typing in those programs from the magazines. Younger developers today are shocked and amazed when I describe the hex dumps with line-by-line checksums they used to print, and that your first challenge was to type in the code-entry program mistake free, without relying on the checksums to get every character correct. To this day, even though I touch-type most of the time, I can still type quickly with one hand, while the other hand is used to keep my place on a printed document I'm transcribing. (Not that I do that much anymore.)

Albright 11y ago

> we should bring back that "printed code" magazines. i mean really just a magazine where there is pure code and only a short discussion about it. not that patronizing how-to shit thats currently available. I think GitHub and the like have filled that space pretty well.

soylentcola 11y ago

Sometime around 1986 or 1987 my dad picked up a used Commodore 128 from a guy he worked with. I was in 3rd grade. I had only the most passing familiarity with computers at that point as the only ones I'd used were the C64 in our school classroom (only rarely were we allowed to use it since there was one computer and several students) and some Tandy or similar at the "rich kid's" house down the street. As a typical nerdy kid interested in sci-fi, robots, and computers, I was immediately obsessed. The guy who sold us the computer must have been into the BBS scene at the time because he included a box of 20-30 floppies labelled with hand-printed stickers and loaded up with all kinds of weird software with cool music and graphics when you started them up. I'd later learn that this was my unwitting introduction to crack intros and pirated software. Since few of these disks were "official", there was only documentation for a handful of programs. I spent the next couple of years slowly discovering and experimenting with all of the programs on these disks as I tried to figure out what they all were. Some were clearly games and some seemed opaque at first but later became an obsession (Zork and several other Infocom titles). The package also included the big book o' Commodore BASIC commands that was included with the retail machine. Between that, BASIC programs from magazines, and figuring out how to LIST a loaded BASIC program, I spent the next several years teaching myself the, er, basics and occasionally trying to "hack" some of the games to give myself way more gold/health/experience by changing different values or POKEing inappropriate numbers in shameful places. Unfortunately, even though I spent hours in that unique ADHD realm known as hyperfocus, writing programs that drew pictures, played music, or simulated an interactive chat (really not that cool, just picking numbers that corresponded to your reply and following a path, choose-your-own-adventure style), my folks also told me to spend less time on the computer. I distinctly recall my well-intentioned stepmother telling me I didn't want to become "a computer nerd". I don't know if they realized how lucrative that stuff could've become had I stuck with it. Either way, as I got older, barring a brief unit on BASIC in a high school computer class (which I aced since I'd pretty much learned it all in grade school), I lost track of programming. I've tried learning more modern languages since then but for whatever reason, the willpower and interest needed to sit down and code just isn't with me anymore. Maybe it's the sense of discovery that's missing in lessons. I still enjoy learning new software when I need it to accomplish a particular task so maybe I need to leverage that if I want to really get back into programming, even as a hobbyist. Learning to use a tool in order to accomplish a particular task is a lot more engaging that learning to use a tool just to learn it. Either way, I credit my early experiences with that Commodore for my continuing love of computers and using them to do fun and interesting things. I may not be a programmer but I'm not afraid to read documentation and learn how things work. I love trying out new features or discovering old ones. My interest in that old SID chip music taught me about MIDI and the C128's graphic commands evolved into my current hobby of creating and displaying digital art and interactive graphics. We kept that C128 as our sole home computer until we eventually got a cheap 386 somewhere in the mid/late 1990's. Never did get that Amiga I wanted but for me, Commodore is the root of my tech-nostalgia and the starting point for many of my current interests and skills.