Developers

developers - yeesh, when I was cutting my teath they were simply called programmers. But I digress...

I guess we can all pretty much figure out that Rick and I are among the true technogeeks around here but who else has written some code. Now I don't mean the standard "hello world" line written in most beginner's class, I mean, developed code for a system and you actually made money off it.

I started off my career as a programmer for a company that developed the hardware and software a physical intrusion detection (security) system for nuclear power plants and military installations. It was all developed in Data General Eclipse Line Assembly Language.

From there I moved on to the State of Maryland and worked on the Maryland Automated Benefits System (MABS); the state's unemployment benefits system. It was a mainframe COBOL monster. I mostly worked on enhancements and maintenance.

On to Towson University (still State of Maryland) and worked on the university's administrative systems. This is where I started doing desktop and network based coding. I coded in C++, COBOL, ColdFusion, Visual Basic (Vb), Java, and a host of other languages. This is where I also entered the dark side of testing and software quality assurance (SQA).

My career from Towson has mostly been SQA, project management, and contract management and oversight.

developers - yeesh, when I was cutting my teath they were simply called programmers.

I'm still a programmer ;)


I love writing software, almost as much as brewing/drinking beer :)


I was lucky enough (and unlucky enough), to be involved in stuff that is still in action every single day -- and I get to see the fruits of my labors all around -- for better or worse (we're not talking DJ/Music software here).

The email stuff was good, the other stuff causes a lot of sleepless nights.

Watch the movie Real Genius, you'll get a better understanding of the sleepless nights -- some things weren't meant to be used in the way people are using them... :nono:

I understand you Rick.

I still carry the clearances. It is not about the work I am doing but about what I know from that first job. The systems have since been replaced but the locations still exist. I'll leave it at that.

Fortunately Greenbrier is off my list.

I write code in several language, more beyond the hello world stuff.

HTML - isn't really a language
PHP/MySQL is the first language I learned
Delved onto Visual Basic
Started Java Script and can get my way around the code.

So far I have developed some minor databasing applications, but am working on a major one here. In addition I have recently created a score bug for computers that can interface with video systems. This is like espn style.

Other things are in the works... Will share when I get the projects out.

I started in 1978 in college (University of Southwestern Louisiana) on a Honeywell Multics (http://multicians.org/) 36-bit mainframe. A majority of my programming classes were in PL/1, which was/is a very neat language. I could do pretty much anything I wanted in that language back then. What was very cool was that a huge chunk of Multics' OS code was written in PL/1, and that made the language a natural basis for learning Data Structures, Architecture, and Operating Systems concepts. I was very interested in learning about the way Operating Systems worked, so I was keen on learning as much as I could about Multics.

I spent the summers of '82 and '83 with Honeywell, gaining a lot of knowledge of and appreciation for Operating Systems internals implemented the Multics way. After graduating from USL in December, 1984, I went on to work for Honeywell in Washington, DC as a Multics Instructor (an Education Representative, as they put it). My expertise was in PL/1 and using Multics system subroutines and subsystems. But having grown antsy with merely talking about programming and not actually writing code, I left Honeywell in late 1986 and worked for a few companies in DC, Huntsville, and Atlanta both as a contract programmer and an instructor for the next 14 years.

I worked for Beltway Bandits (Government Contractors) doing defense work. I worked for a sweatshop called Quantum Computer Services which became known as America Online. I worked for a text retrieval company. I worked for MCI. I worked for CSC to convert apps written for the Pentagon's unclassified Multics system to an IBM 3090. Boy, was that fun. :sprolleyes: All this time I used PL/1, but I also taught myself C and got the itch to do PC programming. I climbed onto the Windows bandwagon in the Fall of 1990 and never looked back. In the early Windows days, all we had were MSC 5.1 and the Windows SDK. We pretty much had to build everything from scratch, and we weren't protected from shooting ourselves in the foot! That was one of the cool things about Multics--it protected you from harming it and any other process. It had a B2 security rating, which was the highest of any computer back then except for Honeywell's SCOMP.

I realized in the mid 90s that programming was a lot more fun at USL than it was in industry--even with slick packages like VC++ and Visual Basic-- so I left the IT world in 2000, going back to my first love, music.

And here I am. :spshocked:

In the 90s I referred to myself as a developer, but I was really a programmer.

You guys make me feel like mental midget:spcheesy:

You guys make me feel like mental midget:spcheesy:

Thanx Barry :)

It's not often that those hidden away in a little brick building, and fed sandwiches under the door, get much credit, or an ego boost.


We'll take anything you got to give :sqbiggrin:

Barry thanks for allowing me the chance to speak from under your boot (I'd love to feel like a mental midget) However it can get worst being the squashed bug under a mental midgets shoe. I think our very own Joe Chartreuse could be listed amongst you.

Nah. Programming is simply about logic. Nothing more, nothing less. If you can think logically, you can do programming.

I forgot to mention a fun contract I had at TVA in Chattanooga in 1990. Their COBOL group got custody of a set of FORTRAN programs written in PL/1. No formatting, no code structure, all uppercase, illegible variable names, goto statements all over the place. Again, it was a FORTRAN program written in PL/1! They brought me in on contract to make some kind of sense of the code.

It took me four months to untangle that mess and prove that the output was what it was supposed to be, and I washed my hands of it! I was also living in Huntsville and driving to Chattanooga every day, spending 5 hours on the road per day. Also crossing the time zone line twice a day added to the excitement. Yecch!

I learned Basic in 1982 on a TRS-80 Model I with a tape drive in the back of a piano store. I've been hooked ever since. It took me a few years but I finally graduated in 2005 with a BA in Computer Science.

Despite already knowing quite a bit about coding, the college education helped by grasp fundamental algorithm concepts. The database education was really a refresher as I learned about normalization on my own in the early '00's.

I consider what I do as part technical and part artistic. It's fun to explore the possibilities of an application.

Nah. Programming is simply about logic. Nothing more, nothing less. If you can think logically, you can do programming.

I knew I made a mistake somewhere; I was supposed to think logically.

Sometimes I just had to depart from logic and do the things others told me weren't possible. For example, for that security system the keyboard commands were processed by a Command Overlay Group (COG) that was loaded in a 1K (yes, 1K) area of the whopping 16K (yes, 16K) of memory the machine boasted. When the security operator entered the command and pressed Return, the command was parsed and the first three characters determined which COG was loaded into the 1K space.

Most commands fit; however, one client wanted a command that was just too big no matter what tweaking was done to the code. That was until the developer writing the COG asked me to take a look at it. "Write self modifying code", says I. "No, that's not the way", says he. "Can't be done," says the boss. "Watch me," says I. I wrote a COG that would process to a point, pull the rest of itself in, and then process the rest. Worked like a charm.

Every time they needed some outside the box thinking, they came to me. The company went under shortly after I left but my leaving wasn't the reason. It was a great place to cut my teeth and it taught me lots.

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1109317,00.html)

I admit outside of the web languages; HTML, PHP & MySQL I'm a complete dummy. I do hope to one day actually learn at least on programming language. Once I get settled in where I'm going to move and get a day job instead of freelancing online I shall take some night classes.

My main reason for wanting to learn is I love to know how things works with an understanding of at least one computer language it's my hope that I can figure out how my computer actually works other than the basic hardware stuff. If I can parlay that knowledge into a good career, I'll be golden. :)

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1109317,00.html)

I admit outside of the web languages; HTML, PHP & MySQL I'm a complete dummy. I do hope to one day actually learn at least on programming language. Once I get settled in where I'm going to move and get a day job instead of freelancing online I shall take some night classes.

My main reason for wanting to learn is I love to know how things works with an understanding of at least one computer language it's my hope that I can figure out how my computer actually works other than the basic hardware stuff. If I can parlay that knowledge into a good career, I'll be golden. :)

Hmmmmmmm.... maybe the bible was mis-interpreted.... lol

Barry thanks for allowing me the chance to speak from under your boot (I'd love to feel like a mental midget) However it can get worst being the squashed bug under a mental midgets shoe. I think our very own Joe Chartreuse could be listed amongst you.


aaaaahh, not quite, Wabbit. While you guys were running code in the 1970s, I was designing the electronics to make it work in the medical and aerospace fields. I might add that I made the transition from analogue discretes to digital IC with absolutely NO whining.... It was great.

Oh, I picked up a little COBOL, FORTRAN, PASCAL, BASIC, etc..., but it wasn't my cup of tea. My programming was pretty much limited to PROMS and EPROMS ( still got my briefcase burner!)., though I was the very first to hack into Easylink, a pre-Internet/Worldwide Web online service. Used the very best technology to do it too! A Televideo TPC1. DUAL disc drives, BUILT IN 5" monitor, keyboard that folded into the package- and the first with PIP capability. This was a briefcase computer before it's time! Didn't catch ME with that 120 baud accoustic modem either. I ran the HI-speed 300 baud, eventually kicking it up to 1200- serious stuff!


Unfortunately, I got caught after about 8 months and had to tell them how I did it to avoid big trouble...

BTW- My great uncle Henry was the co-inventer of the Image Orthicon Tube / system (CRT/ TV)

My Brother owns an international software firm


I am the co-inventor of the AIM circuit ( enables standard monitors to produce HD images- first used for medical imaging. Could still be used today to convert standard TVs for HD)


Not quite the full blooded Luddite, ay Wabbit?