How old were you when you started programming?

Obviously way back when I was wrigint .bat scripts for MS-DOS when I had my first computer.  The frankenstein piece of hardware I had (mostly spare parts from my Dad's leftovers) didn't really like a lot of games I used to play.  So each one either required its own boot disk to run or various batch file in order to run correctly.

The first time I can remember programming is in 5th grade.  Our teacher had this programmable lego system.  It took simple commands like "FORWARD 10" and even supported loops.  The fact that I could write code and it would alter an actual physical device is what had me hooked.

What was your first language

After programming LEGOs I started diving into what I could on windows 3.1; which is where I found QBASIC.  There were a few games already installed (nibbles, asteroids, etc).  So from there I just played around with altering variables and changing things.  Shortly after I started taking classes in middle/high school which quickly moved me from QBASIC to C++.

What was the first program you wrote

The first REAL program didn't come around until high school where we had to create an actual animation (in QBASIC) and kind of make a cartoon of sorts. Mine was basically a stick figure with a cape flying around saving cats from trees. This was my first introduction as to how sprites and various other things were animated within a programming language.

What languages have you used since you started programming?

Assembly (M68HC11, 8051), VHDL,  HTML, Java, JavaScript, J2ME,  C, C++, PHP, Perl, Python

What was your first professional programming gig?

I was lucky enough that my brother-in-law gave me a Job at his company when I was a junior in college; the company, TechSafari. Before then I had mainly done PHP and C++, but at TechSafari I had most of my initial experiences with Perl and Javascript. There I was coding on linux machines and using an Oracle database; nothing fancy. Since it was a small company, working there was great, and it was awesome picking the brains of a lot of my co-workers. I definitely learned a lot there and it's probably the reason that I have the job that I have now.

If you knew then what you know now, would have started programming?

Yes, in fact I probably would've been even more enthusiastic about it!

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?

My suggestion would be to listen to everything and anyone that comes your way. A lot of times there are a lot of non-traditional programmers that have a lot of interesting ways to do things, or interesting takes on various techniques. The worst thing you can do; IMHO, is to get stuck doing the same thing, the same way, every day that you're programming. Always keep your eye out for the next big thing and experiment on your own!

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had programming?

Two things come to mind with this question. The first being a project I did in college involving openGL using C++. Creating animations and various applications using LEGOs was definitely a fun experience.

The second awesome project I had in college was creating a programmable robot using the Handyboard. We had to first create an OS that would run on the board (mine was prioritized!). After that we created drivers for sound, motors and various sensors we attached to it. Aside from being in assembly it was awesome seeing something you made come to life and act/react however you programmed it.

Who am I calling out

Not sure if Steve/Jason are very active in his programming, but I'm sure they'll have something to say. They always do : ).

JasonSidabras
JoeFleming
SteveHolland