Programming Languages

Programming Languages yacitus has used:

Timeline Graph

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

6502 Assembly

Commodore BASIC

AppleSoft BASIC

Pascal

C++

AppleScript

68k Assembly

Delphi

bash

LISP

Clojure

Erlang

6502 Assembly

1980–1985

I first started playing with 6502 assembly on the Commodore PETs as I deciphered the PEEKs & POKEs in programs I typed into them from various books and magazines. (There was one programmer who wrote the majority of the programs I found interesting and elegant, but I'm ashamed I can't remember—or find—his name.) I started "real" 6502 programming on the Atari 800 my dad bought me when I was (I think) 15. (And I even had a summer job after my first year of university (1983) mainly writing assembly on an Atari 800. I also had a job perhaps that same summer writing some assembly on a Commodore 64.) I may have written the last of my 6502 assembly the next year for a summer job in Toronto, writing software to teach BASIC programming.

Commodore BASIC

1980–1983

Our high school got Commodore PET computers in 1980, just in time for my first computer programming class. (Previous grade 11 students sent card decks to the university.) I very quickly passed our teacher in knowledge and spent my class time helping others or in self-study. I had a summer job (I think in 1983) automating a salesperson aptitude test on a Commodore 64.

AppleSoft BASIC

1980–1981

I played with it briefly after winning an Apple II+ in the first annual Alberta High School Computer Programming Competition. But I sold it after deciding I liked my Atari 800 more.

Pascal

1983–1987

Our second class in computer science at University of Calgary was in Pascal. (The first was in PDP-11 assembly.) I bought Turbo Pascal almost as soon as it came out, and put it to work replacing the BASIC code I wrote to generate price-lists for a family friend's window blinds shop. That turned into more complex software using a database library (also made by Borland, for Turbo Pascal). I continued to maintain this code until I replaced it with a new system written in PICK BASIC.

1983–

Even though C was the programming language used in many of the 3rd & 4th year computer science courses at the University of Calgary, there was no course offered in it. (That was probably for the best.) We were expected to teach ourselves. I did so before I needed to, as I walked by a lab that had the first vector graphics workstation I ever saw, and saw a primitive (though it didn't seem so at the time) 1st-person shooter game and asked what language it was programmed in. The answer was C, of course. Since then, I don't think a year has gone by where I haven't used the language. I continue to like it.

C++

1984–

I first started playing with C++ when I read Bjarne Stroustrup's paper on it and start playing with Cfront in (I think) 1984. I've used it off-and-on ever since, but always with distaste.

AppleScript

1990–

I've played with it off and on, including writing some scripts a few years ago (which I still use) to help me manage podcasts in iTunes. But I wouldn't say I know the language. I always have to look at other examples and dig around to write even the simplest bit of code. I think the designers' attempt to make it english-like made if difficult to grok.

68k Assembly

1992–1994

I bought a book on 68K assembly on a day trip to (I think) Great Falls, Montana while visiting a friend in Lethbridge, Alberta, and read it for pleasure. I think that was around 1983. Its orthogonality reminded me of PDP-11 assembly. But I didn't get a chance to use it until programming for System 7 on Macs for Motion Works, starting in 1992, where a reading knowledge of 68K assembly came in handy.

Delphi

1994–1995

Used it to build a splash screen for the Hasbro Playskool CD-ROM installers. I recall it having a fun and easy learning curve.

bash

2005–

I don't think I wrote BASH scripts until quite late in my career as I was re-introduced to Unix through Linux. I still would rather write a Python script than a 2-line BASH script.

LISP

2006

The closest I've come to learning LISP is when I was inspired to read ANSI Common LISP (http://bit.ly/apzLR4) by Paul Graham (I think in 2006) after reading his essays.

Clojure

2010–

I just started playing with it as I read Seven Languages in Seven Weeks by Bruce Tate (http://bit.ly/cmNUWU) and after attending the SDForum Emerging Tech SIG: Emerging Languages Face Off (http://bit.ly/adzUej).

Erlang

2010–

Haven't yet got to the Erlang chapter in Seven Languages in Seven Weeks (http://bit.ly/cmNUWU), but I'm looking forward to it.