Just kidding, I love you Bill Gates, you are my Jedi Master! But, way back in 1984, with my first computer, the Apple IIe, I learnt Apple Basic and had an idea for speeding up the process of using the computer. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with the early days of micro-computers, or personal computers ("PC's"), there was no such thing as Windows. No mouse, no icons, no start menus..."NADDA"! To understand what the early days of home computers usage was like, simply go to your Windows Start Menu and find, under "Accessories", "Command Prompt". That black screen you are looking at, with that simple ">:" icon, was all you had in the early days of the 1980's.
User's of the Apple IIe used DOS and Apple Basic. DOS was an acronym for Disk Operating System, a means to actually control the use of the floppy disk drive storage system. Apple Basic was the IIe's language. So the legendary "Hello World" program came with the User's Manual of the IIe. You would turn on the IIe in the back, the large video monitor would warm up and you would have a black screen with a blinking white prompt next to the infamous ">:" icon. If you wanted to run a program you would simply type in the command for directory and "poof" the list of programs would be listed. To run, you would have to type in the command for ">:Run HelloWorld". Very similar if you use the Control Prompt in Windows. The IIe used a 80 column peripheral card. Meaning a graphics card that only produced 80 columns of text. So no Mario jumping or Master Chief "tea-bagging" around the universe.
After getting familiar with the User's Manual I got a pretty good grip on Apple Basic. After a while I was able to create programs for balancing your check book or creating a scheduler. Mainly programs that would produce reports, or store data, but the user could enter input and save it. Most Apple games used the idea of Dungeons and Dragons, where it would display simply text and sound then you would respond appropriately. The Word Processor was the most important software to my friends and I, because of the ability of not having to redo typing!!!!
Eventually I started to ask if there was a way to make things more user friendly. So I created programs that would allow the user to see all programs available on disk and all they had to do was choose which one. I was pretty pleased with my self. In 1987, at the age of 18, I signed up with the Coast Guard. After leaving the service and going to Computer Learning Center I finally was introduced to C++. The current language used by modern programmers for applications. Then in 1990, at my first job as a HelpDesk Support Programmer, I got my very first computer with Windows! Ahhhhhh mouse, what a wonderful word!!!!!!!! And at the same time "Dohhh!" Bill Gates beat me to the punch!!! (hehe) The job, as a support guy, still used the same type of operating system DOS. I wouldn't see Windows, again, until the mid 90s when the internet was introduced to the public.
Today, I'm enjoying the "techno-revolution". Cell phones, internet, I-Phones, MP3 players, virtual reality......my mind is exploding!!! But I am thankful to those wonderful peeps, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, for catapulting technology to the place we are today. Even though Mr. Gates stole my idea!!!! ;0)
Hi I am Jim Carrillo. I have my own business as a Help Desk programmer. So if you have a computer or Windows related problem check out my website:
I hope to have further articles of more interest in upcoming days. Please let me know how I'm doing! Thanks!
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