WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Where did all this begin?
I got my real start in programming in C# at my current job, the Public Disclosure Commission.
I started programming back in 1985 when I purchased my first computer for
$150.00 a TRS-80 Tandy computer. I kept that poor machine until 2004
thinking that my Son could benefit from it. He's now 17 and has a faster
machine than I.
Anyway, the programs that came with the machine was
limited, but the documentation for the machine at the library was somewhat
satifying so I spent a lot of time at the library. With a background in
electronics and a lot of curiousity I started coding my programs in BASIC and
saving them to cassette tape.
In 1986 I bought my first new computer a Commodore 64 computer. Yeah, for
all you new age techies, I was behind in the times. I continued to program
in BASIC and started
teaching myself MACHINE LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING, I purchased a
compiler cartridge and learned ASSEMBLY. It wasn't long before I figured
out how to integrate my electronic skills with the computer. In 1988 I
work an accounting program which did payroll for a funeral home. I went to
the IRS, the City Council and State and got a copy of their tax tables. I
keyed everything into the a BASIC program which was saved to a floppy disk.
The funeral home purchased a used Commodore computer and used the software to do
payroll.
I designed alarms, inferred triggers, screen writer lightpens, remote devices
and more. The I purchased my first modem and several floppy disk drives I
was in business. Goodbye cassette players. Naturally I kept it
around to play with. As the year grew longer I eventually found myself
sourrounded with Commodore 64 computers, a total of 4 of them, including my
electronic test equipment and a large collection of books.
It wasn't until 1993 when I purchased my first IBM Clone computer and started
learning C, C++ and Windows Programming with Borland Software. It was a
difficult transition from BASIC to Windows Programming; I played with the C
language for a number of years hoping it would jump into my mind.
So I spend a number of years doing other things with the computer. I have
a background in graphic design, architecture, finish carpentry and made
furniture by hand so I used that knowledge on the computer in ways that others
found amazing. For example, in the 80's there wasn't a lot of graphics for
the Commodore 64 and 128 computers, so I created my own. I would use GEO
Paint, take a piece of clear sheet protection and a sharpie marker and track the
outline of a image to the sheet protector. Then I would use scotch tape
and tape the sheet protector to the monitor and use my light pen that I created
and draw the outline of the image to the screen transfering it to the GEO Paint
canvas. I would then save the image and use it later in my publications.
In 1994 I purchased a video editing card made by ???????? which went out of
business. I was able to buy the card at a substantially low price.
Video Editing was born. At that time composite video and a direct audio
connection from my VCR was the only way to get video into the computer.
The compression rate was extreme creating file sizes that wouldn't fit on my 2
Gig drive. So this made video editing a challenge. I learned a boat
load of tricks working with video. I had to tweak windows 3.1 and the
hardware to work with my environment. Then Windows 95 came out. I
purchased a copy which gave me a different look and feel.
During that time I was still buying programming books and software.