December 12, 2012

Computer Encounters of the First Kind, Part II

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

I had several friends in college who were into computers. They encouraged me to take the intro course on programming. I’m glad I didn’t. If I did, I would have had to switch majors, probably end up at school for another three years, and probably had a different career. That’s because it turns out that I really understand computers. They’re natural to me.

At the time, I didn’t think so. Back in college, I wasn’t into math. I failed Calculus, so I figured I’d bomb at computers as well. Computers are all about math, right? But what I didn’t know is that computers did the math for you.

There was a VAX mainframe on campus and terminals all over. A computer account was free, so I had one; I reasoned I was paying for it, even if I didn’t need it.

The campus was festooned with Apple II+ computers, which the professors used for word processing. I wanted a word processor, but couldn’t afford an Apple II+. The VAX didn’t make for good word processing, though I used it that way. I also ran a few games. But no, I had no interest in computers.

One of my friends, the same one who encouraged me to take a programming course, invited me into the computer lab one day. We were going to get lunch or something, so I waited while he attempted to finish an assignment.

His assignment was to use the Logo programming language to create a hexagram on the screen. He was having a heck of a time trying to figure it out. I was getting hungry.

When I’m hungry, I can get grumpy.

So I finally decided to pay attention. I looked at what he was doing and after about a minute of staring, I told him what to type. At first, he didn’t believe me. “Dan, you don’t know what this is.” He was right, of course. Then I insisted that he try it. He did, and a hexagram appeared on the screen.

I tried to explain how I came up with it. At that point, the proctor came around to listen. The proctor wanted to kick me out of the lab. He said, “You’ve had this class before.” I looked at him and said, “I’ve never programmed a computer in my life. I hate computers.”

Rather than bicker with me, he told me that I was a natural and that I should sign up for the course. I declined, still believing I had no interest in computers.

By the time I graduated, I had purchased my own computer and was programming it. That makes me wonder, truly, had I changed majors, where would I be now?

3 Comments

  1. Im interested in these what-if situations about getting into computers back then because Im 47 which is the same age bracket as you and incidentally I grew up in San Diego also. Im curious, if you didnt like computers then why did you buy your own computer? And since you bought your own computer and started programming on it, why didnt that give you any interest on using campus computers? Also UCSD Pascal was pretty popular back then for use in university study, didnt they have any UCSD Pascal terminals for use? And how far do you think you could have gone if you switched to a CS major? Because USCD is a highly rated science and engineering school I would think you would need a pretty heavy math background to go through it.

    Comment by BradC — December 12, 2012 @ 2:28 pm

  2. I am a little younger than that being a child of the 80’s. My first expience with a computer was a friend of my Dad’s (Dad being British Rail had had to contend with the WANG teletype writers, through it in and retired early with a load of his friends) that was the dodgy Sinclair ZX-80.
    I spent the time thinking “Why?”. Mind you Maths as a core for computing and engineering is a little over stated it just that Maths is seen as the quickest way to get people to think in the right order, and see when they make errors why they made them. I’m probably the last person you would think to have an Engineering Degree at school (upto 16 years old) I was in the thick(ish) class with the Kids who set fires etc. I just learned how to do Algebra and Basic Trig and went from there! Glenn

    Comment by glennp — December 12, 2012 @ 2:45 pm

  3. Lots of questions!

    I didn’t like computers, but I was tired of paying to have my typewriter repaired. The guy in the typewriter shop actually suggested that I get a word processor. So I looked into it and was amazed at what they could do. I wanted a word processor, not really a computer. But I could afford only the basic system. Rather than waste my money, I learned what I could do with it. By that time, I was pretty much done with school.

    My “hating computers” time was pretty much my freshman year. I got over them quickly, but didn’t want to change majors. Had I, I assumed I would have graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and probably studied at UCSD graduate school in computer science and might have ended up as either a professor or hired off to work somewhere. But I wanted to be a writer.

    Comment by admin — December 12, 2012 @ 3:45 pm

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