|
| |
Microcomputers
 urprisingly,
perhaps, I currently have no (what I call) "formal" experience in the microcomputer
world. However, I bought my first microcomputer in 1982 — a Zenith/Heathkit
Z90 — after IBM unveiled the "PC" (or, Personal Computer) to the
world and, since then, I've broadened my own horizons by exploring programming
on the personal level, i.e., at home and for myself. From there, I've even
sold and installed a custom-built application at a client site.
The table below will give you a glimpse into where my explorations have taken me.
Hint: Don't forget what a
"PC" is — a personal computer. Don't try to make it
into a corporate-wide computing solution unless you (#1) get all the facts,
(#2) know exactly what the company needs, (#3) know exactly where the company
is going, and (#4) have absolutely no doubts that the "PC" will be
able to take the company there with the minimum amount of trouble as compared
to all other possible solutions. Nine times out of ten, the PC will not
be the corporate-wide answer that many people make it out to be; however, this
does not mean that the entire corporation will not
benefit from a "PC on every desk" scenario. It will just not
be the total computing solution for the corporation.
J
Operating Systems
| CP/M |
This
was my first exposure to microcomputers (Wow! 64k!) and, though the
IBM PC sported 640k, it was two years before my personal programming
started feeling cramped. After seeing the Print Screen key on the
IBM PC, I enhanced this operating system to give it a Print Screen
function — Zilog80A Assembly was fun. J |
| MS-DOS |
It
was really the floppy disks that I got tired of — rather than actually
running out of real memory. Thus, my upgrade to an IBM XT-compatible
with a 20meg hard drive was like sheer heaven to me. Oh, and that
8mHz Turbo button seemed like pure genius. J |
IBM OS/2 &
MS Windows 3.1 |
I
outgrew that 20meg hard drive long before I finally bit the bullet and
bought an IBM AT-compatible computer. I went for a full tower this
time because I had also outgrown the expansion slots. I was also
tired of command-line prompts (CP/M was the same way) and DOS-SHELL, but I
wasn't overly impressed with "Windows" either. OS/2 was
getting a lot of fanfare, at the time, so I went with a 33mHz (turbo), 16meg
real, and 128meg storage system (later, I had to add a second 320meg
drive). Wow! Who could want more? J |
MS Windows'95
& '98 |
Nowadays,
I run on a 450mHz, 192meg real, and 11gig storage system which is
peer-to-peer networked with two other personal computers — and we're
talking about my home here! J
Soon, I'm going to have to think about upgrading to MS Windows ME or XP.
J |
System Software
| Z80A
Assembler |
Though
an esoteric language, I've found great enjoyment in programming in
assembler. Programming at the most basic level is more rewarding,
for me, because there is more of the sense of being in control of what the
program is going to do. My only regret is that I have not gotten
into any 32-bit assembly on the PC — I'm a fast learner though. J |
| MASM
Macro Assembler |
| CP/M-BASIC |
BASIC
has been, by far, for me, the most versatile language for the PC. Naturally,
BASIC is not the panacea of languages that many people try to make it out
to be; but, nevertheless, I do find it to be an extremely versatile
language. J |
| GW-BASIC |
| Quick-BASIC |
| Visual-BASIC |
| DataBOSS
for C |
This
was an early attempt at an all-encompassing programming and execution
environment for the C language. |
| Quick-C |
I
first became familiar with C when using DataBOSS for C and I then dabbled
a bit in Microsoft's versions of this language — but not much. I
haven't found anything that I could do in C that I can't do in
Visual-BASIC, but I'm still open minded about it. J |
| Visual-C++ |
| CP/M
WordStar |
These
were early word processors that I used. As with everyone else in the
computing world, I seem to be gravitating more and more to Microsoft
versions of everything. I haven't decided, yet, whether that is a good thing... or a bad
thing. J |
| PC
WordStar |
| WordPerfect |
| MS
Works |
I'm
quite familiar with the word processing, spread sheet, and database
capabilities of these two suites. At first, I was happy with MS
Works (hey, it was "free"); but as my skills grew so did my
horizons. The upgrade to MS Office Professional w/SDK was painful to
my pocketbook; however, all the added functionality now seems well worth
the price. J |
| MS
Office |
| MS SQL/Query |
I'm not sure how relevant this is to MS
SQL Server, but I've used SQL on the PC both with IBM Client Access
software (in conjunction with retrieving data off the AS/400 via ODBC) and
with MS Access applications (in conjunction with retrieving data, for
forms/reports, from Access tables). |
| MS
FrontPage 2000 |
At
first I had visions of using MS Word's HTML support as I, once again,
sought to broaden my horizons and add web-page design & coding to my repertoire.
Instead, Microsoft added an additional member to the Office family of products
and I find it to be a very useful and feature-rich tool. After a
little education and experimentation, I find that I don't rely on FP except for its WYSIWYG
capabilities. I invariably end up going behind the scenes to make my own custom changes to
the raw source code. J |
|
