August 31, 2003
Rockin' the BASIC
"
You know what I loved the most about going back to school in 1990? Computer class." (a droll look back at old school bits and bytes, via
Cup of Chicha)
You know, today's kids don't know how good they have it. Most computer classes back then were about programming long, long lines of BASIC so that, say, the screen would flash different colors. Whoopee.
In my junior high, circa 1982, we had a roomfull of Texas Instruments computers. Most of what we did was strictly educational, but every once in a while we were allowed to play (contain yourselves, now) Hangman. Whee! It was fun, but I remember one time where my partner only picked names of current video games. This led to exchanges like this:
Me: "Umm, is it Zaxxon?"
Him: "Yeah. You're good!"
Posted by mhinrichs at August 31, 2003 11:49 PM
I've got you beat in the my-old-grey-beard-is-longer-than-your-old-grey-beard contest: I took my high school computer class in 1973. Fortran on bubble forms (the school couldn't even afford a keypunch machine) and 24-hour turnaround on our programs if we were lucky.
I went on to get a guest account on the local university's IBM 370 and learned programming by translating Hunt the Wumpus from Basic (taken from the pages of "Creative Computing") into an IBM equivalent called "PL/C".
Do I get a prize?
And what *do* kids learn in computer class these days anyway? My guess is it must vary -- a lot of Word and bad HTML, a few classes that get into Flash or something else appealing to the ADD generation, and a very few scary kids that get onto Advanced Digital Warfare and Applied Worm Design.
I remember the days of the Commodore 64, cassette tape drives, and 100 meg hard drives cost a grand.
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