Re: First computers . . .

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <B65EC42E.ECAA%sheppy@sheppyware.net>,
Eric Shepherd  <sheppy@sheppyware.net> wrote:
 
> in article ggd_5.2638$uK6.365369@news1.telusplanet.net,
> dev.null@personal.information.com at dev.null@personal.information.com wrote
> on 12/14/00 4:06 PM:
> 
> > And I am curious, how many of you started out on an Apple II?
> 
> I started on the TI 99/4. :)
 
Although I didn't start out on the Apple II, it arrived early in
my computer life and the Apple II+ was my first ownm computer
(if we disregard a few programmable calculators: the HP-25, HP-65
and HP-41C).
 
My very first programming experience was on an obscure language
named "EMS-1" which ran on a custom built computer on the former
Electronic Music Studio here in Stockholm.  Yes, the purpose
of this language was to generate electronic music and other
electronic sounds - yet it had most of the features one expected
of a computer language at that time: loops, subroutines, etc.
This was back in 1975.
 
Then in 1977 I started doing some FORTRAN computing on an IBM 360
mainframe, using punched cards as input medium.  It was a quite
frustrating experience to hand in your card deck, only to get a
printout a few hours later which contained the compiler's complaint
about syntax errors.  A year later I switched to the CDC 6600
using a timesharing terminal, which improved the situation a lot:
you would then get feedback about your syntax errors after just
a few seconds instead of a few hours....
 
In 1978 I started reading almost everything I could get at about
microprocessors.  And in 1980 I got my first own computer: the
Apple II+.  I did consider a few other models too, but the Apple II+
won because of three reasons:
 
1. The floating-point numbers had an accuracy of 9-10 digits, not just
   7 digits which otherwise appeared to be the norm at that time.
 
2. It had hi-res graphics
 
3. It had a resident machine code monitor, making assembly language
   programming readily available.
 
I did consider a few S100-bus computers as well, but they were too
pricey for me.  I felt attracted to CP/M quite early though, and
soon I would end up getting it for my Apple II+.
 
-- 
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Paul Schlyter,  Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
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