Who on here programs?

[For Hire 24]

24 minutes ago, TonyWenz said:

I want to programm DNA of a tree to grow tree houses. That was we can 'twig' it as we progress or need to move.

Older
{still waiting for the 'Wiser'}
 

why not get some advice from Noah when you see him 😎 

[Qapla]

OK - for the answer to Martin's question ....

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Simply ask either one of them

Spoiler

what the other would say

Spoiler

and

Spoiler

do the opposite!

 

 

 

 

 

[Brandon]

On 7/12/2018 at 3:53 PM, Sylv said:

I believe you need to be... a very logical thinker... in order to be successful as a programmer.

Yes much of programming is essentially problem-solving, and being detail-oriented is also very important (and diligence and patience since doing it as a full time job could be gruelling depending on how heavy your workload).

 

I've got most of that down pat but I lack the patience and stick-to-it'ness to become more than just a coder in non-programming languages such as HTML and CSS (which I really enjoy tweaking about it).

 

Also, if you’re part of the smart one generation and always on your phone, and I highly recommend downloading this app which makes learning JavaScript fun (and one-handed!)

 

iPhone  |  Android

Edited July 14, 2018 by Brandon

[Witness1970]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:44 AM, jwhess said:

I can't help but smile at Br. Jerry's comment "but that was a long time ago".  Back in the 1980's, I used to program in machine code, DOS batch file assembly, Basic and later just began Visual Basic and then quit the whole idea by the late 1990's.  "but that was a long time ago"....😉

I did my first programming in 1967. My school was in a math competition with 101 other schools. Each school could bring 4 team members and 4 alternates if they wished. There were between 404 and 808 math students.  I was number 19 overall and was invited back and taught something called Gotran, which was supposed to be a simplified Fortran.

I later programmed in Basic, C and C++, I got away from programming because it just seemed useless.  Then, in the 90's I taught myself Assembly Language and did some batch file programming, web page design.  

Programming is really not worthwhile any more because almost anything I can think of to program is already available from someone else. "But," like everyone keeps saying, "that was a long time ago".

[Katty]

Wow several people who have learned assembly and/or c that's pretty impressive

[Beggar for the Spirit]

I thought that for anyone programming that this might be very interesting 

 

Microsoft provides free lessons for quantum computing basics

Want to learn more about quantum computing and how to program in the Q# language? Microsoft just launched Quantum Katas, an open source project that does just that by providing you with tutorials for learning at your own pace. According to Microsoft, these exercises are based on three learning principles: Active learning, incremental complexity growth, and feedback.

“Each kata offers a sequence of tasks on a certain quantum computing topic, progressing from simple to challenging,” Microsoft Quantum Team states. “Each task requires you to fill in some code; the first task might require just one line, and the last one might require a sizable fragment of code. A testing framework validates your solutions, providing real-time feedback.”

Currently, there are only four katas covering basic quantum computing gates, superposition, measurements, and the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm. Each kata is a stand-alone project containing a sequence of tasks progressing from trivial to challenging, requiring you to manually insert chunks of code. They also provide a testing framework that sets up, runs and validates your final code.

For instance, the first kata covers computing gates, another term for basic operations, used in quantum computing along with the concept of adjoint and controlled gate versions. Those provided in the kata belong to the Microsoft.Quantum.Primitive namespace, the notes reveal.

To use these katas, you need to install the Quantum Development Kit for Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. This kit is typically used to build your own quantum computing programs and experiments. It includes the Q# language and compiler, the Q# standard library, a local quantum machine simulator, a quantum computer trace simulator, and two other components. After installing the kit, you can grab the katas through Git or by downloading stand-alone copies in a ZIP file.

Microsoft says you shouldn’t panic when all tests initially fail after opening a kata. You need to jump into the Tasks.qs file and manually enter code to complete all tasks. These tasks are covered by a unit test that requires you to insert the correct code, rebuild the project, and then re-run the related tests. If you did everything correctly, the corresponding unit task will pass and you can move on to the next stage.

Microsoft’s katas arrive after the company hosted its first Q# coding contest in early July, challenging more than 650 developers and new programmers alike. According to Microsoft, more than 350 participants solved at least one Q# problem while 100 participants solved all 15. The problems ranged from generating a superposition of all basis states to creating a second array reconstruction algorithm. The contest winnercompleted all tasks under 2.5 hours, Microsoft says.

Given Microsoft’s Quantum Katas is an open-source project, the company welcomes all contributions and suggestions. “Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution,” Microsoft adds.

[Tia]

On 7/11/2018 at 8:30 PM, Qapla said:

I first learned to program in the old FORTRAN IV language and run on the IBM 360 mainframe computer. Of course, the program had to be typed on punch cards and read into the machine with a card reader. Only things was, you would not know until after the program was "run" if there was an error. Then, you had to re-type the cards with the errors and try again. You could only do this a few times since, after a few runs, the cards became "damaged" and you ended up having to re-type the entire program.

 

Wow. Bro John,

I just got so excited!  I use to work with fortran and cobol - IBM sys 34 

That truly takes me back!!!

 

 

 

[Dave]

I've been working as a graphic designer in the printing industry since 1985 before the age of computers. I bought my first computer (a Mac Plus) in 1991 and in a short time became quite dependant on it, at the same time noticing all the people who lost their jobs to computers. 

 

I became very proficient in using the computer to produce design work using software like photoshop, freehand, pagemaker. Eventually after all the software companies bought each other out, Adobe became the industry leader so I switched to inDesign and Illustrator. As the industry and the world continued to change I saw the need to get involved in web design. I started in the days of GoLive which was basically html software, but I struggled to get my head around it. These days I use Dreamweaver to produce websites using html and css. But technology continues to change and I find it difficult keeping up with all the new ways of doing things for all the myriad of different devices.

 

I have always been more focussed on the front end, the visual part. These days I struggle to find enough work as it seems there's a lot of DIYers and cowboys out there using wix, squarepants and other cookie cutter programs, to the point where there's no more demand or money in it anymore. 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

 

 

... Later, I did venture into learning Visual Basic (I have an interesting/sad story about this I may share at a later date) and wrote a few programs.

 

 

I'm ready for the story.... please

 

Older {waiting for wiser}

 

 

 

[Qapla]

Tony, I'll try to explain ... (some of this may be a bit technical to those who have never programed) 

 

When I first learned Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) it was a "structured" language. That means it had line numbers. It was common practice to use them in 10's - as in, 10, 20, 30, 40 and so on) allowing you to go back and add lines of code in between. Many languages no longer use line numbers when you program - it is more of an "outline" style of writing. Although, if you look at the code in a text editor, you may find the generated code still carries line numbers.

 

There was a simple command in structured BASIC that allowed you to renumber the entire program. if you just issued the command "renum" the entire program would be renumbered starting with 10 and increasing each line by ten (like I mentioned above). However, this command also allowed you to specify a start number and an increment ... so, if you wanted, you could have it start at 500 and increment by 5's and the numbers would be 500, 505, 510, 515, etc. Most people I knew only used this command to clean up a program once it was completed to get rid of the line numbers they had added between the 10's.

 

I discovered a different use for it - in conjunction with another command.

 

There was another command you could use when you saved your program. Normally, when you save a program it was saved in a coded way that looked like a continuous line of random letters. However, you could add the letter "A" to the save command and the program would be saved as an actual text file. By doing this, you could merge two programs together, as long as they were both saved as text files.

 

I discovered that I could use these two commands together. I could write portions of a program and assign it specific numbers. By doing this, I could use common routines without having to write them over and over again. To make these routines easily insertable, I made them into sub-routines (a programer would know what this means). Then, when I started a new program, I could simply merge one or more of these pre-written routines into the program I was working on. I referred to this as "modular" programming. I would then start my new program with "gosub ###; gosub ###; gosub ###" and simply renumber the program when I was finished.

 

I was told this was not a correct to program. That is was not "real" programing.

 

Later, someone else did something quite similar - only instead of calling them "modules" they called them "objects" ... instead of calling it "modular programing" they called it "object-oriented programming" and Visual Basic was born.

 

A style of programing I was told was not "correct" became VB - one of the top selling programing languages and is still used to some extent today -  but, since I was not working for Microsoft or any other such company - I was not in on "creating" VB.

 

I can't say anyone got the idea from me ... but, it goes to show - I was on the track of a style of programing that made someone a bundle of money

[jwhess]

My "Basic" world ended when "GOTO" went to "GOSUB".  I have never fully recovered....

[New World Explorer]

On 7/11/2018 at 1:12 PM, trottigy said:

I used to program in C & later C++ , but that was a long time ago.

 

I got C at school once, and my teacher told my parents that I am deteriorating ..

Little they knew I was developing into a programmer ...LOL

They hacked/hassled  me a lot, and I had to abandon C for at-least B

Shame really, by now I would be an expert programmer ....LOL

[On the huh]

I started off using Pascal, COBOL and C.  Done some in Z80.  To be honest, I found it easy to write computer programs using those languages.   Had some published in a computer magazine (pre-internet days).   Then I didn't move on or progress with modern languages.

Recently I made a whole media player app for our Kingdom Hall using the AutoHotkey scripting language.  It automates the downloading of videos in JW Library, connects the phone link, records the meeting, and shows pictures for public talks and other media if needed.  It also checks the settings and puts things back again (some do like to fiddle with the settings).  It works really well.

[Qapla]

Before we had our songs in digital format, back when we had .wav files on several CD's for the meetings - I wrote a program in VB that made virtual drives, one for each CD and an interface that allowed the user to play the meeting songs from a PC. I started this project because we were needing to replace our CD player at the Hall and the PC would be nicer than buying another programmable CD player.

 

Later, when the mp3's were released, I converted the program to play the .mp3's - it was nice to get rid of those virtual drives

 

The interface asked for the three songs in the order needed. It did not allow duplicate song numbers so, if the PT Speaker selected the same song number as the WT - it gave a warning so a different PT song could be selected.

 

It also had an option to lower the volume of the intro of the song and then turn the volume up when the singing portion began. It also counted the verses down and had a visual "Last Verse" warning so the sound attendant would know when the song was almost over - just incase he was "distracted" during the song (you know, like one of the brothers on the meeting waited untill the song was playing to make his special sound need known)

 

We used it until we started having video. (it was actually being used in 3 different Halls)

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Thought it might be appropriate on here...

Older {waiting for wiser}

[bobby]

i tried it to lean years ago but my learning disabilities my dyslexia got in the way 

 

@Qapla love your profile pix 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by bobby

[Myew]

On 11/26/2018 at 7:38 PM, Qapla said:

I was told this was not a correct to program. That is was not "real" programing.

That's depressing. I've grown up learning that programmers are just people who find a technical solution to address a need. 😕

[lord-360]

Suprised at all who learned those old languages. I think thats really cool! Now we have all these videos, Google, books, etc... I'm trying to learn programming right now. I actually enjoy it more than I thought I would. Any tips from those long in the industry?

[jwhess]

9 hours ago, lord-360 said:

Suprised at all who learned those old languages. I think thats really cool! Now we have all these videos, Google, books, etc... I'm trying to learn programming right now. I actually enjoy it more than I thought I would. Any tips from those long in the industry?

The sign in the IT department at work used to say,  "A COBOL Programmer is a terrible thing to waste"....😎

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I thought some on here might like this...

Just Older

[Meditate!]

On 7/12/2018 at 8:33 AM, hatcheckgirl said:

Me too.  I studied programming after I left High School, thinking it would be a good fit for pioneering.  So I skipped Uni and did a TAFE course and learned BASIC and COBOL.  I finished that in a year instead of 4 years at Uni.  My first job was at IBM, where I learned assembler and was a service rep for DOS, including Series/1, and VM.  Back then, as was already mentioned, the machines were mainframes, the disk drives were housed in aircond rooms, and the tape decks were used to ship our code fixes (we call them updates now).  But then, I decided to pioneer, and IBM did not have part-time work (career jobs do not do part time).  They invented a part-time position for me as the technical librarian, and so I pioneered until I married and babies came along.  Around this time the PCs came in, and I never went back to programming or anything techie.

Wow!

 

this is more than 'can I take you hat sir', stuff, Lucy!

 

I started getting into programming but found I could not switch of (in my head) for thinking of routines.. and went into hardware instead ,in the early eighties. @Tony took me back in time further up in the thread... At the time, no small business here could afford an IBM DOS 3 pc  so to be able to assemble your own from bits was worth it to sell on and make some good profit, was worthwhile. After a couple of decades IBM type PCs were a home pc and then laptops became popular. Now there is not profit in pcs at all.. pick one up up at a discounter with your box of cereals...or just get a tablet.

 

We have some intelligent friends here!

[jwhess]

6 hours ago, Alan said:

We have some intelligent friends here!

Unfortunately, as Sr. Lucy may know, many in the world do not think COBOL programmers are "intelligent" or even necessary....  Time has marched on and Grace Hopper will have been deceased for 27 years next Wednesday.  Long live COBOL, APL and FORTRAN....

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program....

[Meditate!]

7 hours ago, jwhess said:

Unfortunately, as Sr. Lucy may know, many in the world do not think COBOL programmers are "intelligent" or even necessary....  Time has marched on and Grace Hopper will have been deceased for 27 years next Wednesday.  Long live COBOL, APL and FORTRAN....

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program....

Lol. 

 

I can think of a dozen misapplied scripture here.

 

However they knew the language spoke and read it/wrote it

 

Good enough for us here..