Tag: How Did I Get Started in Software Development

Dean Wampler — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:36:00 -0500

Micah Martin tagged me a while ago:

How old were you when you started programming.

I was around 15.

How did you get started programming.

This was in the mid-70’s. In school, we had access to a time-shared computer running Basic. My first “real” programs were in college when I wrote Fortran code for a PDP-11 in a Physics professor’s lab.

What was your first language?

Basic

What languages have you used since you started programming?

Roughly in order of adoption:

Fortran, C, Assembly Language, C++, PL/1, Perl, TCL/TK, Python, Java, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, SQL, Ruby, Scala

What was the first real program you wrote?

Data analysis programs in Fortran for that Physics professor. Later, in graduate school, I started applying OO principles to the massive Fortran simulations I wrote. I needed OO to manage the complex objects!

What was your first professional programming gig?

Writing PL/1 and C code for a 3-dimensional scanning system running on the RMX OS on proprietary Intel mini-computers. The tools were atrocious and we forced our customers to use a green screen terminal interface, because nothing else was available!

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?

Take the initiative to learn from potential mentors. They are too hard to find in our industry, so grab the opportunities when you can. The other recommendation I would make is to pay attention to the business side. Do you really want to do all that hard work for a project that will face-plant once it reaches the marketplace??

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had programming?

Leading a team of C++ developers writing a new user interface for a debugger that worked with in-circuit emulators (ICE’s). I always enjoyed UI development and the technical challenges were good. Unfortunately, it was one of those face-plants…

Object Mentor Blog: Tag: How Did I Get Started in Software Development