Learning to Code

I've only ever taken one course on computer programming. That is, if you don't count the more than 100 that I have taught (tip: teaching is the best way to learn something).

It was a course in HP BASIC taught by a Mr. William Gibson at Santa Ana Junior College (Community College today as JC seems to have fallen out of favor over the years).

We used an HP computer that was about size of a small... fridge (tall, but narrow). We used a single teletype terminal like a DEC-writer to enter code and stored our programs on paper punch tape (looks like a thich ticker tape with brail).

We had a quiz every week, in which we would be asked to write out the solution in HP BASIC to a specific problem like reversing a string or something simple. There were generally 10 blank lines on the quiz sheet and the scoring was simple: if the program was correct and under 10 lines, you got an A. If you got it correct and needed more lines, you got a C. Otherwise, F.

It was a fun class and I learned a lot about problem solving.

How it all started - Programming

How it all started:

When I was 17, I used to hang out with my next door neighbor Jim, who went to UC Irvine. We used to get high and play cards or pinball at the student union. Then we'd go over to the computer lab for some all nighters, playing a text version of Star Trek on professor's accounts that Lurch had hacked into.

I didn't find computer games very interesting. I was a pinball wizard. ...Fireball was my favorite. But I loved getting high and hanging out with the older kids, especially my friend Jim, whom we called "Lurch" because he was 6'7" and skinny. I was 6'4" and skinny and hi called me "Clyde".

I would play the Star Trek game a little, but it would usually crash at some point and I'd have to ask Lurch how to restart it. It was written in some variant of BASIC and he would say "just type run" to restart it.

One night, I asked him what else I could type and he said "type list".

That simple command, together with "edit", opened up a whole new world to me. It is still one of the best games I've ever played.

Thanks Lurch.