Richard Syrett

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

I did most of my pascal work on DOS with 640k of ram so everything was pointers and saving stuff off to disk and using overlays. I wrote a word processor interface into a relational database that mimicked wordstar but stored everything in a database instead of a text file. It was basically a browser before there was an Internet.  It was a commercial product for several years. All that was was pointers to pointers. I used to see pointers in my sleep.

LOL - Dream In Code.  Been there. 

[GravitySucks]

That's what I missed out on. I was taught some BASIC in high school but by the time I got my own computer there was already lots of commercial software and all of the programmers I met were working in more advanced languages like C or straight up assembly. If I could go back in time I'd try harder to learn to program in the 80s. 

Once I learned how to develop a compiler, I could program in any language. All I needed to see was the grammar. I have had to analyze several different languages, but those are the ones I actually developed in.

[zeebo]

So basically, you can travel back in time ... if you already did it.   

[GravitySucks]

LOL - Dream In Code.  Been there. 

The worst part was for several years I was programming on multiple systems at the same time.

Honeywell & IBM 360/370

IBM 370, Z80 (CPM),  PC DOS

I never developed for Linux, but I have developed portable code which could have, in theory, been ported to Linux.

Throw in about 8 different DBMSs and it explains why I walked around like a zombie for years.

[Dr. MD MD]

This guy's fired! Get me Titor on the phone. 

[GravitySucks]

This guy's fired! Get me Titor on the phone. 

That's TIEtor!!!

[Dr. MD MD]

That's TIEtor!!!

I'm sticking with the old school Tee-tor. He's the only legit time traveler. 

[GravitySucks]

I'm sticking with the old school Tee-tor. He's the only legit time traveler. 

That was sure one well-played saga. I will give him that much.

[zeebo]

The worst part was for several years I was programming on multiple systems at the same time. ....

I learned so many different languages, or parts of them at least, from full general ones to scripting to dbms to special library commands, etc. ... that i can't ever remember simple stuff like if/then/else syntax or even the damn comment char lol.

[Dr. MD MD]

That was sure one well-played saga. I will give him that much.

It's more fun to think about "actual" time travel than theoretical. 

[GravitySucks]

I learned so many different languages, or parts of them at least, from full general ones to scripting to dbms to special library commands, etc. ... that i can't ever remember simple stuff like if/then/else syntax or even the damn comment char lol.

Yep. That can be tough. Most of my programming multiple systems was back in the day before context sensitive editors and online debuggers. That made it worse. Once I started programming Windows apps, it was almost all in C++ so I was able to relax a bit. I never did get good with debuggers though. Spent too much time wading through core dumps. Most of the time I just had to put in debug print statements and then comment them out when I was done.

[Dr. MD MD]

So, do you guys watch the show Silicon Valley? They just started their new season a couple weeks ago.

[GravitySucks]

So, do you guys watch the show Silicon Valley? They just started their new season a couple weeks ago.

Not yet. I will check it out.

I don't have HBO

[zeebo]

Yep. That can be tough. Most of my programming multiple systems was back in the day before context sensitive editors and online debuggers. ..

One time I had to write some Perl text processing that built javascript dynamically, and which itself had regular expressions inside.  Probably the ugliest code I ever wrote, full of a hodgepodge of special characters, incomprehensibly enclosed in various quote marks, some literal, some escaped.  Gave me some job security for awhile though.   

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

The worst part was for several years I was programming on multiple systems at the same time.

Honeywell & IBM 360/370

IBM 370, Z80 (CPM),  PC DOS

I never developed for Linux, but I have developed portable code which could have, in theory, been ported to Linux.

Throw in about 8 different DBMSs and it explains why I walked around like a zombie for years.

The worst (I think) is when you get two languages with similar, but not exactly the same, syntax and you're jumping back and forth between code.
Oh man...   yeah, that would do it. 

[zeebo]

So, do you guys watch the show Silicon Valley? They just started their new season a couple weeks ago.

I've been meaning to check that one out.  Might make me nostalgic for my dot-com glory days though.   

[Dr. MD MD]

I don't have HBO

Neither do I. 

[Dr. MD MD]

I've been meaning to check that one out.  Might make me nostalgic for my dot-com glory days though.   

It's worth it! 

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

I learned so many different languages, or parts of them at least, from full general ones to scripting to dbms to special library commands, etc. ... that i can't ever remember simple stuff like if/then/else syntax or even the damn comment char lol.

Bwaaa ha ha ha.
It pisses me off to no end when I can't remember the comment char for a specific language.  No shit, something so simple, yet if I haven't dealt with a language in a while, I think it's something else; sometimes.
A good IDE helps though.

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

So, do you guys watch the show Silicon Valley? They just started their new season a couple weeks ago.

Actually, the first season was pretty good. Funny.

[Dr. MD MD]

You guys should check out some of the short docs I dropped in the Random Function thread showing computers from 1980.

[GravitySucks]

One time I had to write some Perl text processing that built javascript dynamically, and which itself had regular expressions inside.  Probably the ugliest code I ever wrote, full of a hodgepodge of special characters, incomprehensibly enclosed in various quote makrs, some literal, some escaped.  Gave me some job security for awhile though.   

That word processor I described was a lot like that. It started out as a throwaway prototype built in 3 months during an SBIR Phase I contract I won. We shamed JPL and they didn't give us Phase II which was supposed to be a real development effort. Since we had to use our own money, of course we started with the prototype. The "Delete" key was 1100 lines of code.

Once Windows XP came out,  my partner ported the word processor functions to FrameMaker which made life a lot simpler for the database interface, and gave the added functionality of storing it both in a text file and the database. 

[Dr. MD MD]

Actually, the first season was pretty good. Funny.

They're on their 4th now and it's all been good. Mike Judge is behind it and I've pretty much liked everything he's done. He actually used to work in Silicon Valley in the 80s, apparently.

[GravitySucks]

This caller drives me nuts

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

One time I had to write some Perl text processing that built javascript dynamically, and which itself had regular expressions inside.  Probably the ugliest code I ever wrote, full of a hodgepodge of special characters, incomprehensibly enclosed in various quote marks, some literal, some escaped.  Gave me some job security for awhile though.   

RegEx are damn powerful, and you were dealing with two different sets of them at once ?  And one of them inside of JS. Yikes.
I learned JS by hard coding it. One out of place char and the script doesn't run. I also learned to write one or two lines and then check that the code ran.
Job security ?  I'll nominate that for the understatement of the year.    

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

You guys should check out some of the short docs I dropped in the Random Function thread showing computers from 1980.

Saw them. Those were pretty good.

[zeebo]

Bwaaa ha ha ha.
It pisses me off to no end when I can't remember the comment char for a specific language.  No shit, something so simple, yet if I haven't dealt with a language in a while, I think it's something else; sometimes.
A good IDE helps though.

ha yeah there's asterisks, slashes, pound signs, etc., but my fave was the old DOS "REM" tag for "REMOVE".   :

[GravitySucks]

ha yeah there's asterisks, slashes, pound signs, etc., but my fave was the old DOS "REM" tag for "REMOVE".   :

COBOL had a "Debug level" parameter. You could format your debug print statements in a certain fashion and then turn them on and off during runtime. That was pretty handy.

[Dr. MD MD]

So, what's the most popular language these days? 

[zeebo]

This caller drives me nuts

I thought Barry usually only called in to talk to his 'good friend' George.  I wonder if he's still trying find Cornelius' phone number lol.