Re: Programming Direction Help......
From: pH (high_at_cidity.level)
Date: 10/25/03
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Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 16:37:37 -0400
On 24 Oct 2003 21:00:34 -0700, jl2938@yahoo.com (jl2938) wrote:
>I am a student currently studying programming and need some direction
>as to were I should put my focus. I have a general knowledge of PC
>hardware and how they work with each other. I have become a little
>board with this aspect of the PC but programming seems very
>interesting to me as I like to take on challenging tasks and be
>creative. Is this a good route to take?
Only you can decide that, but, depending on the type of creativity
you possess... programming can be a *wonderful* outlet.
I was also into "hardware", many years ago. As a child, I developed
a strong interest in electronics, which more or less naturally evolved
into digital electronics and computers. It's funny, in retrospect, but I
always kinda poo-poo'd programming, quite convinced that hardware
was "where it's at". One Christmas, my wife got me a programmable
calculator, and... that was it, I was hooked. I spent a fair bit of time
with BASIC (as it was "built in" to the Atari 800XL I'd picked up), but
I knew that assembly language was where I wanted to go, and... well,
that's where I went, and that's where I stayed. In a--perhaps obscure--
sense, it was kinda like suddenly having a huge box of chips and acres
of breadboard to go nuts with.
So, what I'm left with, is a rather strong conviction that having a background
in digital electronics should be considered requisite for any programmer.
Aside from gaining a... "natural grasp", so to speak, of logic and the flow
of logic as it relates to programming, there are *so* many occasions where
the solution to a problem reveals itself in a most obvious manner, when
viewing its constituents in their binary form. (if you have access to the
book, Hacker's Delight, *do* check it out.)
As for "languages"... ok, it's really a matter of preference, but... honestly,
I've never felt compelled to code in anything other than assembler. I *do*
like HLLs, for algorithm development (particularly when working with
unfamiliar math), but... other than that... just seems like an unnecessary
middle-man-like step (more like the middle man, his agents, and their whole
fam damly).
Anyway...
Jeff
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