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Discussion on: How long have you been programming?

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cheetah100 profile image
Peter Harrison

In 1981 I got my first computer, the ZX81. I typed in computer programs from magazines and modified them to do new things, learning to program. In high school I wrote a messaging system for the students on the BBC Micros. By 19 I had moved to the PC and was running my own bulletin board using software I had written in GWBASIC.

Here is a interview I did several years ago for DownToTheWire, a Internet History in New Zealand.

downtothewire.co.nz/poison-1992/

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ghost profile image
Ghost

OMG same. I was a member of the Sinclair Users Club back in 1982. Being the party animals we were, we used to meet on Friday nights at the Chess Club on Bealey Ave, in Christchurch. I was just typing stuff in from magazines, but my neighbour Simon Glass (year older than me, now an engineer at Google in CA, go figure) was a bit of a prodigy and used to come over with programs he'd developed in hex and written on bits of paper, type them in and bingo we'd have something cool and mysterious happening on that little computer.

Around that time, Tron appeared in movie theatres, so off we went and it was a blast. After that, I remember hanging out so badly for good graphics hardware. The next couple of decades went so SLOOOOWLY..