Programmers Please Put your Hand Up (2b OR !2b)

Anhar_Miah

Anhar_Miah

Veteran
I was rather impressed by the number of software programmers and developers on DVXuser, now being a programmer myself I’m intrigued as how others got into programming in the first place.

I think us guys/gals have a good balance of Creative/Logic, which may give as a unique perspective to things.

So I’ll start off:

My programming Journey:

It started off with Commodore 64 and I was hooked. Then later on during our childhood days with the Amiga 500. During college we learnt machine code (directly plugging values into memory addresses).

At Uni, we learnt FORTRAN and MATLAB (not programming par se), after Uni for fun I learnt by myself Python & VB6 & Euphoria, by word of mouth I ended up freelancing and making applications for small businesses.

Decided to go back to Uni to really learn programming more deeply, I tried Java with an open mind, it frustrated and alluded me, and I ended up learning C++. I also picked up HTML CSS and JavaScipt as a bonus, during my free time I toyed with Ruby.

Fast forward to now, I heard this thing called C#, decided to give it a shot, I was literally blown away, it had smooth silky flow.

The Future? Zen Programming :D

So what about your story?

Please note I don’t want this to turn into a language war, just please talk about your experiences, thank you.
 
ah, I thought you were asking for Film Festival programmers. That would have been cool. Always good to know a festival programmer. Damn.
 
Got involved in videogame programming back in 1982. Convinced my dad to buy an Atari 400 and the BASIC cartridge and some friends and I would make programs and sell them. Well, didn't really work out that way, and I bounced from minor fringe low-end software developer to minor fringe low-end software developer, barely keeping afloat. Picked up Basic, Fortran, Pascal, Lisp, and 6502 along the way.

Then some guys I worked with started Westwood Associates and I was the first employee hired. We did translations, taking programs from one platform (usually Commodore 64) and translating them to run on other platforms (I originally did Atari 400/800/1200, Atari ST, and Amiga translations). Eventually we developed a common platform graphics OS and could quickly/easily translate to Apple IIGS, Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC. We did stuff for companies like Epyx (World Games, Winter Games, California Games) and Strategic Simulations (Phantasie III, Roadwar 2000, etc). Picked up a few more languages including C, C++, 65816, 68000, and 80x86. We started doing original titles after that, I headed up titles like BattleTech: Crescent Hawk's Inception and BattleTech: Crescent Hawk's Revenge, etc. Then the videogame platforms became more prevalent, so I got into doing Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and NEC TurboGrafx16 programs. By this time we were hitting the big time, my biggest title was probably Disney's The Lion King on the Super Nintendo. We invented a cross-language compiler and a Lisp-ish language to support developing on both platforms simultaneously, so Rob Povey and I both did basically half of The Lion King each, while adapting the others' work for our own platforms. It was the only way we could meet the deadline. I saw that film about 10 times during development, including early early rough cuts where entire scenes consisted of a couple of still-frame sketches and the dialogue.

After that the Windows platform had matured as a gaming platform so we focused more attention there. C and C++ and 80x86. Command & Conquer was the biggie there; besides being a programmer, I also did the foreign language conversions of our in-house titles (so I was doing the French, Italian, Spanish and German versions). Was a co-lead programmer on C&C: Red Alert, the fastest-selling videogame in history at that time; I think we won the "Codie" award for game of the year.

After that (and a limited stint on C&C: Tiberian Sun), I retired from programming and moved into video/film full time.
 
Wow.

Well, I bought my first 486 and it had Doom on it.
I played that and became obsessed with it. After I beat all but the hidden level 32, I wanted to make my own games.

So after a lot of BS, no web for me in those days, I settled on DOS c++ and set about learning how by replicating that game. I did, and ported it to windows. Both without sound as that was copyrighted.

John Carmack would post his old code once his new games came out, so that was cool.
Unlike Barry however, I went nowhere, lol.

Then bro bought a dvx and wanted a rotating newpaper in a shot. "Oh, I can do that" I proclaimed. Having acquired that knowledge replicating the doom engine and was dying to show off my 'skills'.

Then, I go online and find out, 3D apps let you do that in ten seconds, easily. It took me a week to write that code in c++. Software coded renderer baby. I'm talking harcore coding, hehe.

Now, I program if a situation comes up that the 3D apps aren't good at.
C4D is what I do now, which also allows scripting and custom c++ coding so all is not lost.
 
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Applesoft Basic and then 6502 Assembly on an Apple ][+ in 1982. Then CP/M and Unix System III hardware with Pascal and C in the mid eighties when I was in my mid-teens. I used to do programming for engineering companies because my father worked there and they couldn't find programmers. Later I worked for SCO as a Xenix tech.

I was the typical 80's teenage nerd "computer genius" with a Rush baseball shirt and thick glasses. I took Computer Engineering for a year around 1990, then realized that I didn't really want to do that for the rest of my life and switched to Film Theory.
 
Not a programmer but a Mac developer (shareware). I guess I tell the programmer what to do. I've got some stuff coming out very soon actually. I'm sure you'll hear about one thing coming out next week (hopefully). I basically do things based on need or what I think is needed. I'm testing the waters I guess.

-Nate
 
BobDiaz said:
2b_|_not(2b)_|_output
0__|____1____|___1
1__|____0____|___1

Therefor the answer is true. :)


Bob Diaz
Click to expand...

close:

However you did not exhaust the entire state space:

2b_|_not(2b)_|_output(x)
_0_|___1____|_____1
_1_|___0____|_____1
_0_|___0____|_____0
_1_|___1____|_____1

Therefore (x->1) != true VxP(x) {x implies 1; is not true for all fucntions of x}

Sorry couldn't resist :D

EDIT::

Some excellent stories, Barry is there no end to his talents!

Raptor, that fact that you managed to port doom and your a self taught programmer, I got huge respect for that man!

pmark23 man, some of that stuff I've never heard about! aint nothing wrong with being a nerd, cool nerds exist its the latest trend nerd is in fashion.

Naythn, I guess the film analogy would be that you are the director and we are the actors!


Keep 'em comming!
 
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I am no programmer by any stretch; but found I have an aptitude for it.

Basic stuff; Cold Fusion, CSS, HTML

Never tried anything more advanced, but the coding itself comes easily once I know the language.
 
Started with BASIC on a VIC20...then Commodore 64. It was right about then... you know, the time you just about threw the computer out the window in frustration, that I realized I was a better instructional/creative designer than a programmer. (WAY too much math for me!)

So, I now hire programmers to work in the trenches and develop product I've designed....which now leaves me time to start a filmmaking quest!
 
Hmmm...

I started programming on a TRS-80 Model I, but the first computer I owned was a TRS-80 Color Computer... first using basic, then upgrading to the OS9 operating system and C/assembly.

Then I worked for a while on a TurboDOS multiprocessor machine mainly in Pascal and assembly.

Then up thrugh the world of VAX/Sperry/IBM minis and mainframes... I developed software for what i think was the las textbook on VAX MACRO assembler programming ever written... lots of system level work in VMS and Unix.

Later I started getting involved in robotic programming... from low-level microcontroller code (6811, 68332, HC11) to high-level distributed robotic control systems. While a student, I contracted to many robotics companies (eg, ISR [now iRobot], ActivMedia Robotics, RWI). I developed a number of software development languages/environments that were somewhat popular in research robotics (Ayllu, MARS/L for Pioneer, PAI, P-Logo).

I also ran and did most of the programming for a robotic theater troupe (we did performances in Europe, Japan, and across the USA), did a lot of robotic performance art pieces, exhibits, and installations, and developed custom robotic systems under contract. In addition to being what i think to this day remains the only fully autonomous, reactive robotic theater troupe, we also participated in RoboCup international robot soccer competition... and can make a strong argument that we won the first RoboCup international competition (though officially we didn't).

After finishing up with school, I was pulled into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where I developed software and hardware planetary rovers for a number of years.

Now, like many folks here, I program only when necessary... though I seem to have gotten myself on the hook for a VERY ambitious robotic performance piece next year...
 
I don't have the patience to do much coding from scratch, but I've done quite a bit of work making modifications to existing open source software, mostly in PHP and regular C.

The software work I do is almost exclusively done in GNU/Linux. In fact, I recently finished the first version of a new distro called Nexradix. I've also done a bit of work with Windows software, but most of it has been through customizing installers to ease in the distribution of Free Software on the Windows platform.

Haven't messed with Mac yet, but my next project will involve automating some software installation there. We shall see how that goes.
 
Anhar Miah said:
close:

However you did not exhaust the entire state space:

2b_|_not(2b)_|_output(x)
_0_|___1____|_____1
_1_|___0____|_____1
_0_|___0____|_____0
_1_|___1____|_____1

Therefore (x->1) != true VxP(x) {x implies 1; is not true for all fucntions of x}

Sorry couldn't resist :D
Click to expand...

The answer is correct if we are talking about a single bit output of a gate, like pin 2b. In the case of an 8 bit variable, for any bit, the NOT function would always invert the bit. Thus 1,1 and 0,0 are impossible.

X | NOT(X)
0 | 1
1 | 0

Pick any number from 0x00 --> 0xFF, then using the NOT function invert the bits, and "OR" the two numbers. The result will always be 0xFF. For example:

10110010 = X
NOT(X) = 01001101

10110010 OR
01001101
11111111 = 0xFF

Now that we've caused everyone else to roll their eyes.... :dankk2:

My first programming was in FORTRAN on a second generation computer, but that was a long time ago on a computer far far away...
Later I worked in BASIC on an HP Mini computer.
I went on to work in COBOL & IBM 360 Assembly
By 1979 I was was programming in Apple Basic (both FP and integer) and 6502 Assembly.
At Epson America used 8080, Z-80, and 6301 Assembly.
Later learned C & C++

Today I enjoy playing with the PIC Micro (by Microchip) and programming it in assembly. Interesting little series of chips, it's like a baby computer on a single chip with lots of extra interfaces to play with. Simple, but at the same time powerful...

Bob Diaz
 
Over 28 years of signing NDAs means all I dare say is I've arranged my share of 0s and 1s for private and government projects in a variety of languages and on a host of systems and OSes.

Hopefully I haven't given out too much information and opened myself up for litigation.
 
I took my first computer programming class in high school in 1999. Remember that year, as the next statement is what's off. We were programming in Pascal. Yep, almost 30 years old at the time, the program almost doubled my age. But, I loved it. It was a load of fun.

I ventured to East Carolina to get a degree in computer science, and of course, we were programming from day 2. This time we used C++. That made me feel a little more up to date. After a semester and a half, we had to write a program that would simulate a "virus" attacking. Although, it was nothing like a virus, it was really just a program on nested loops and prelim to birth and death rates. LONG story short, I always put my programming off until the night before, would stay up all night, and turn it in first thing that next day. Stayed up all night, looked at my clock and it was about 6:30. I clicked "run" and my computer just locked up. Startled, I grabbed the computer screen begging it not to shut down when I remembered I had it saved on a floppy. I rushed up to the campus to the compsci computer lab, threw my disck in, opened my program and ran it. BBBBBbbbbeeeeeeeeoooooowwwww....
That's the sound of the computer I was on locking up and shutting down. Remember, I've been up for a while now, and I'm a bit delusional: "What are the freakin' odds?" I thought. I moved to the next computer. It was already locked up.
I went home, and I couldn't get my computer to even boot. I went BACK to the school, and the lab was closed. I heard some people complaining about how all of the computers got some virus and the lab was shut down. It was shut down for a week and a half. I guess I did end up making that virus after all.
Later that year, I changed my major.
 
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