Geek timeline

This is my work in process timeline; each milestone lists the hardware, operating systems, programming languages and developments I focused on.

I have to thank my father for the Apple ][ plus back in 1979; I asked him why he bought it: “Well, I had no idea what a computer could do, I just had a hunch that it was something important, I bought the Apple thinking that maybe one of my children would have looked into it.” What my father said is romantic, the truth of the matter was that he bought the Apple ][ plus with 2 floppy drives, a Centronix dot-matrix printer and an accounting package for his business.

So, I stumbled upon a computer as a 15 years old not because I yearned for it, because I found one in my dad’s office, which happend to be also our home. So my journey began, I used to get up at 5 AM to work on it—still do, even earlier—oh, what intense memories, I had two manuals as my only source of knowledge (no Internet) and lots of determination, and with that… beautiful things happened.

By the way, I did try to convince my dad to use the accounting software, he never did!

Milestones

Hardware: Apple ][ plus, Apple IIe, Apple Silentype printer
Operating system: Apple DOS
Languages: Applesoft BASIC, 6502 Assembly Language
Software: –
Developments: Fire Fighter game written in assembly (along the same line of Apple Panic), 2D-3D plotting of math functions and numerical data, Science Fair Project: relationship between atomic number and physical properties of elements, word processor
Readings: Apple ][ Basic Programming Manual, Apple ][ Basic Programming Reference Manual

Hardware: IBM AT
Operating system: DOS 3.0
Languages: BASIC
Software:
Developments: Educational software for learning German and Convolution

Hardware: DEC
Operating system: UNIX
Languages: FORTRAN
Software:
Developments: 3D vector graphics with hidden lines technique
Documentation:

Hardware: Commodore C64
Operating system: KERNAL
Languages: 6510 Assembly Language
Software: Assembler
Developments: Added to C64 BASIC VHS control command functions; wrote driver to an early touchpad

Coop Education at Power Processing in Canton MA (US)

Hardware: DEC Microvax, IBM RT
Operating system: BSD with X Windows System
Languages: C, bash
Software: emacs
Developments: User Interface Library, Educational Software Cells and Tissue Physiology and Thermodynamics

Hardware: Apple Macintosh II, IIci, SE/30, Performa
Operating system: up to System 7.6.1
Languages: C
Software: MPW (Macintosh Programmer Workshop), HyperCard
Developments: Kart Racing

Focused on event driven programming and User Interface Guidelines, Inside Macintosh I-VI

Hardware: IBM PC, IBM AS/400
Operating system: OS/2, OS/400
Languages: C, SQL
Software: IBM TIRS, IBM NNU, IBM EASEL
Developments: Finite capacity resource scheduler

Hardware: x86, x64
Operating system: MS Windows versions, MS Windows Server versions
Languages: VB6, VB.Net, web suite
Software: MSDN, VisualStudio, MS Office, MS SQL Server, MS IIS
Developments: Office automation, KeyVisions eSite, webos

Hardware: x86, x64, Raspberry PI, mbed
Operating system: Debian, Ubuntu, Raspbian
Languages: C, bash, Javascript
Software: Visual Studio Code
Developments: Spin the web, KeyVision, BPMS

 Last update 2018-12-21 06:00