I used to love playing arcade games back in the day, and they --along with the omnipresent Atari 2600-- formed a lot of my early video gaming career.
However, my life changed forever the day my parents bought a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A back in 1982.
Before you ask, yes, we had game cartridges for the 16-bit computer. My personal favorite was Tunnels of Doom, a procedurally generated multi-level dungeon crawl that you could save your progress on either floppy disk (which we didn't have) or cassette tape (which we did have). I know other people in my family who liked Parsec, a Galaxian/Space Invaders knock off, but I was just introduced to D&D in the Fall of 1981 and Tunnels of Doom was the closest thing we had to a computer RPG in the house.
But what really changed my life was the fact that it truly was a computer, and you could program in TI-BASIC (what the machine was loaded with), TI-Extended BASIC, Assembler, Forth (never knew any computer system that used Forth other than this TI), and PASCAL. I cut my chops on spaghetti code in TI-BASIC, but it was also the springboard that led me to my current job in IT.
I learned to program by typing in lines and lines of TI-BASIC from computer magazines for applications from a cookie recipes database to video games to financial calculators. After typing in lines and lines of code, I then had to debug those lines to correct the inevitable typing errors. Once in a while, I did learn that the magazine's code printout had a flaw in it, and I learned to correct those flaws myself. I also learned to design and build an application based on desired input and output; once I discovered that each computer apparently had it's own version of BASIC, I also learned to translate these other BASIC flavors (such as Radio Shack's TRS-80 BASIC) to TI-BASIC.*
All of this led me to high school, where my high school was one of the first in the city to require a programming class for graduation.
Sure, I learned about the standard programming languages of the day, such as FORTRAN 77 and COBOL, but most of the design structure for programming had already been ingrained in me by those years spent with the TI-99/4A. To be fair, I still use those same lessons when I write scripts on the fly for whatever IT incident I encounter, but I have since learned other methods of software design, such as object oriented programming.
But I will always look back fondly on those years working on the now ancient TI home computer. It is weird looking at the machine now, and seeing it as about the same size as a laptop with a miniscule amount of computing power compared to even the cheapest smartphone, but it was a launching pad to a field that became a large part of my life.
#Blapril2020
*I still have a printout of the TRS-80 BASIC code for the old Santa Paravia kingdom building game around somewhere. The spaghetti code in that game is pretty bad.
**Once, when my paternal grandmother asked me that question and I responded "an astrophysicist", my grandmother mouthed to my mom, "What is that?" My mom replied, "I have no idea."
However, my life changed forever the day my parents bought a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A back in 1982.
 | |
| This is the box with the real thing. It cost $299 in 1982 from a department store that eventually merged into what is now Macy's. Yes, you could buy home computers at department stores back then. |
Before you ask, yes, we had game cartridges for the 16-bit computer. My personal favorite was Tunnels of Doom, a procedurally generated multi-level dungeon crawl that you could save your progress on either floppy disk (which we didn't have) or cassette tape (which we did have). I know other people in my family who liked Parsec, a Galaxian/Space Invaders knock off, but I was just introduced to D&D in the Fall of 1981 and Tunnels of Doom was the closest thing we had to a computer RPG in the house.
But what really changed my life was the fact that it truly was a computer, and you could program in TI-BASIC (what the machine was loaded with), TI-Extended BASIC, Assembler, Forth (never knew any computer system that used Forth other than this TI), and PASCAL. I cut my chops on spaghetti code in TI-BASIC, but it was also the springboard that led me to my current job in IT.
I learned to program by typing in lines and lines of TI-BASIC from computer magazines for applications from a cookie recipes database to video games to financial calculators. After typing in lines and lines of code, I then had to debug those lines to correct the inevitable typing errors. Once in a while, I did learn that the magazine's code printout had a flaw in it, and I learned to correct those flaws myself. I also learned to design and build an application based on desired input and output; once I discovered that each computer apparently had it's own version of BASIC, I also learned to translate these other BASIC flavors (such as Radio Shack's TRS-80 BASIC) to TI-BASIC.*
All of this led me to high school, where my high school was one of the first in the city to require a programming class for graduation.
Sure, I learned about the standard programming languages of the day, such as FORTRAN 77 and COBOL, but most of the design structure for programming had already been ingrained in me by those years spent with the TI-99/4A. To be fair, I still use those same lessons when I write scripts on the fly for whatever IT incident I encounter, but I have since learned other methods of software design, such as object oriented programming.
 |
| It actually doesn't look in that bad a shape given that it's 38 years old. I still have all the cartridges and other peripherals, too. The cassette player needs its belt replaced, however. |
But I will always look back fondly on those years working on the now ancient TI home computer. It is weird looking at the machine now, and seeing it as about the same size as a laptop with a miniscule amount of computing power compared to even the cheapest smartphone, but it was a launching pad to a field that became a large part of my life.
#Blapril2020
*I still have a printout of the TRS-80 BASIC code for the old Santa Paravia kingdom building game around somewhere. The spaghetti code in that game is pretty bad.
**Once, when my paternal grandmother asked me that question and I responded "an astrophysicist", my grandmother mouthed to my mom, "What is that?" My mom replied, "I have no idea."
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