Computer Experiences |
Table of Contents
Please understand that these pages are last updated end of 1997 - so they are kind of outdated, sorry.
My computer experiences go back till 1984. There I learned to
know the Apple II computers. After a while I got a C-64 where I started to do my first programming in Basic and 6502 Assembler. I went to different Computer Camps to learn more about programming.
So I got to know Pascal.
1989 I saw a Macintosh the first time. Short time afterwards a SE stood on my table.
Beside programming I learned to know a lot about the common applications.
In 1993 I started my first big programming project: Praxifac. A billing program for physicians, written with the Think Class
Library in Object Pascal.
In the same year I had my first experiences with the Internet.
I got an Unix account at our University. It was quite a difference to the Mailbox system I was used to,
but soon I learned to appreciate all the advantages of The Net.
Somewhen I thought I should be more up-to-date and changed my
default programming language to Cand C++. So I wrote once CDToAIFF, a digital audio extraction application on shareware basis. I
made Homi, a Homeopathy program.
In 1996 I had the chance to write the WebOutliner, and later on MGM ScreenSaver for a the Gumption GmbR company.
Beside all that programming I'm giving Psion classes at the Secom AG since 1994 and I promote different computer peripherals for the
Excom AG. This is where I got most of my PC knowledge. Sometimes, if I have some spare times, I have some
private computer teaching. Since 1997 I'm working for Internet Access at the helpdesc.
(1999:) Since 1998 I'm working now as a parttime Unix Systemadministrator with the same company.
I got some experiences with the Internet. I write HTML pages, CGI-Scripts in Perl, database querys. I know about Javascript but I won't go for
Java yet.
(1999:) Meanwhile I did a lot of background programming in PHP. I also started to do some small things in Java.
Because I can have my own machine on the Internet I got to know
quite a bit about Linux and setting up different servers.
Since 1989 I'm working with Macintosh. I got to know the palette from the Mac Plus till the PowerMac
9500/200. I learned to use a disk-only Mac SE and I know how to
fill a 2GB Harddisk (who doesn't, but it sounds good :-)).
I programmed a lot in Quick Basic, Turbo Pascal, Think Pascal, Think C, Metrowerks Codewarrior C and C++.
Among the self-made applications are: Praxifac, CDToAIFF, Homi, WebOutliner, MGM ScreenSaver.
I know most common application from Photoshop to MS Word, from MiniCAD to SoftWindows. Because meanwhile I'm fast in learning by doing, I can even
understand programs that I didn't try before. This has also to
do with the programming experience that I have: it gives me a
view of both sides.
Mostly I know the MS-DOS/Windows computers as 'the other side'
(look at this, why you should go for a Mac). For my own I prefer a Mac to work
on, but it is always good to know the other one as well (it makes
it easier to judge..).
I've worked on MS-DOS based systems in the old years. I learned
to laugh about the third try of Windows and even after 95 I'm
still writing this from a Macintosh.
I installed different Peripherals on different PCs and found out
that they are like human beings: all of them are individuals...
Of course I had to go through Win95 Installation and even worse
one's before, I used all the different apps from PhotoImpact to Navigator and from MS Excel to Powerpoint. I learned to know that Mac speed is not the same as PC speed
especially if the processorspeed is the same. But why should windows
be faster? just that the crashes will occure faster? :-)
Mostly I have to use PCs for the promotions (Excom AG),
the psion classes (Secom AG) in order to use the
Psion Emulator and of
course at the helpdesc (Internet Access AG) so I know what
people are talking about.
Since 1993 I have access to the Internet through the University of Zuerich. I got an Unix account, so know a little bit how to use the different
commands to get a FTP connection or to get a trace route to a
server.
Later on I could advance to an account with PPP possibility. The
Telecom was happy, because I started to use the Internet from at home.
But this gave me a lot of opportunities: I started to use the
different special application for ftp, www, news, email, chat,
voicechat, telephone, cu-see-me, telnet, ... so I had much more
fun (till the first telecom bill came... :-)).
Of course I learned a lot about what people call the Internet:
the World Wide Web:
I know how to use different programs:
Two application I wrote had something to do with the internet:
the WebOutliner converted the contents of a folder to HTML, Netscape
Bookmark or HotSauce format, the MGM ScreenSaver can load the
picts from an FTP site.
I know how to install an internet accounts on Mac, PC and other
computers.
What is left to say: give me a computer and I will start to play with it.