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But I remember FORTRAN and then BASIC ... taking a class at the University of Maryland in the '70s in FORTRAN, submitting a job on punched cards, and discovering the joys of getting into an infinite do-loop.
LOL.
I'd punch out my program, then go down the stairs to the computer center. There was a door with a sliding window. I'd ring, the window would slide open, and I'd hand my stack of punch cards to the guy I called the "Mainframe Acolyte." He'd just take the cards--never say a word--and slam the window shut.
Then, yeah, the next day discover I'd put the computer into an infinite do-loop.
Prior to the Internet, people with modem-equipped personal computers could directly dial into private or commercial servers that hosted "bulletin board" applications that permitted many functions of forum websites today.
The Internet began as a military project under DARPA, designed as a communication system that could survive a nuclear war. Gore did sponsor and promote appropriation bills for what seemed at the time a pie-in-the-sky idea.
The Usenet--which is still available--was the first widespread consumer use of the Internet, much like a bulletin board system on steroids.
It was the invention of the website concept, the World Wide Web, and the web browser that brought Internet use out of the hands of us nerds and to the attention of ordinary folk.
In late 1992, our commander had hand-carried a beta of the Mosaic browser on a floppy from the University of Illinois, telling us, "This is the next big thing." We thought he was overstating it.
Thanks for reminding me. I think we had modem, 56k or something like that.
I have been reading all these wonderful replies this morning, kicking myself for not keeping a diary of my experiences with computers. It's not something I can do retrospectively ... the memories may be there, but no longer completely accessible.
But I remember FORTRAN and then BASIC ... taking a class at the University of Maryland in the '70s in FORTRAN, submitting a job on punched cards, and discovering the joys of getting into an infinite do-loop.
Great thread.
I’m old enough to remember I learned both BASIC and FORTRAN using punched cards. I did spend a lot of time in the computer lab. Made so many dumb mistakes. I wish it’s easy like now. Ah the kids nowadays have it easy.
..........Back in the early 80s, my other ex had built a Heathkit personal computer, if anyone remembers those. But I can't remember what he did with it, since there was no internet for civilians such as us, then.
Yeah, there was but it was not the internet that the military developed and your using today.
There was CompuServe and FidoNet and the usenet groups.
It was in 1983 and all I could get was a party line, so I had to tell my neighbors what that weird noise was and how to knock me off-line so they could make a phone call!!
1997. Self taught. The same year we relocated from New England to Chicago. It enabled me to stay connected with the friends I left behind. The friendships that flourished were with those who were internet savvy. It also enabled me to make new friends in my new state. I'd have probably gone nuts without it.
My memory of the internet in the early 1990's was that it was a giant bulletin board, people selling items or ads for user groups. Nothing to get excited about. We signed up for compuserv and that was better. Sierra On-line had an amazing platform where you could create your own character, play games, and interact with real people. They were ahead of their time in 1994. We lived in the sticks, so we had to pay long-distance telephone fees....about $50 a month, but it was worth it.
We got our first PC sometime in the early 1980s, I think. I remember writing a paper for my graduate class using a freeware word processor. Learning how to use that was painful! But I pushed through and mastered using it. I got an A, as I recall. Topic was something about getting computers to talk to each other--TCP protocols, as I remember.
At any rate, I used a dumb terminal when I went back to work, and I remember how hard it was to learn how to use it. It was not intuitive at all, but finally I got it.
At home, family members were always pushing DH to buy a new computer or upgrade software, or buy a better printer or something. He is an old FORTRAN programmer, but for some reason he never wanted to spend the money. I tried once to remember how many PCs we had bought, but I failed. So, we've both been using a PC for decades now.
I am not as plugged in as I once was though. I haven't worked in 12 years, so I don't do what I used to do on a computer, and I am not pushed to learn new things.
I am devoted to my smartphone though, and my IPad mini.
I loved email, from my first use of it, though. And I remember sitting at work and seeing a promotional message about Google. At that time I was doing all my searching on AltaVista. I was intrigued and tried Google out. The screen was so clean, and the response was so fast! I immediately began encouraging others to use Google and I never did another AltaVista search, I don't think. I changed over to Google on our home computer immediately.
DH likes a PC with a CPU and big screen. So that's what we always get. I run Chrome for my stuff, and he runs the Microsoft system. I think he also uses Bing. He doesn't change as fast as I do, and I always think he takes the long way round to do everything. But he has all our stuff online, backed up twice, and even though I am a librarian, he is much better keeper of files.
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