It is interesting to think of the way we were.... where we are now --- where we would be or where we have to be in tomorrow-years.
We often say "forget the past" especially when it gave bad experience or sad emotions. Whether we like it or not, we forget things and we do not forget things! There are many things that we don't/cannot forget - happy and sad, good and bad, friendly and unfriendly, pleasant and unpleasant, war and peace ( or is it "peace and war"?) and so on - we don't forget. Forgotten are not listed here. What we forgot - we don't know! We only get to know them when they fall in the list of "unforgotten"! :-)
The Way We Were
The way we were ... must start from my earliest possible memory I am able to recall - but the search is still running...Suddenly, phase-3 (of the way we were...) comes in.... [Phase-2 and Phase-1 are still to be found, of course it is a backward searching]
At times, I think of the time-line of computer development in terms of matters I had been coming across.
I wish I have time and peace of mind to jot the search results in details, at least day by day! :-)
My first introduction to Computer was not to the computer but rather a programming language - FORTRAN IV
We were taught FORTRAN IV bit by bit by example programs, and were also taught how to "run" the program - most interestingly, "run" programs without any computer, but on sheets of paper, a pencil (without eraser), and a pencil-sharpener (we used to call it a 'cutter').
So you would say the Time Line of "My Computer" has the origin offset to mid 1978.
I wish I would have been able to show the exact examples - that we had run. It was very unfortunate that all of my undergraduate notes were lost... in many ways (1) Those who borrowed did not return, (2) Gone as food for termites, (3) Lost due to mass exodus. [Congratulations! (I must congratulate myself for having found at least three reasons!)]
My very first experience with a computer happened with Commodore SuperPet - Department of Mathematics and Statistics bought a single computer (from a person brought from the USA or so, if what I remember is correct) on the enthusiasm of Dr S Ganeshalingam (Lecturer in Statistics), Mr S Kanaganathan (Dr. SK since 1992) and Professor Balan Selliah (the then Head). It was happening during our special-degree period. Naturally we were a bit of reluctant to touch the computer, but later Professor Balan Selliah gave a (strong) advice that we had to use it, it was bought for us to learn and use. We got the enthusiasm and started learning from the manual that came with the computer. It was a stand alone computer for BASIC language. You have to switch on and write the program and run it. I was usually with it during my free time. The other one who was with it was my fellow Suthaharan (now he is Professor Suthaharan in North Carolina, USA). He compiled the programs he tried on the computer and submitted as his final year project; clever he was! He still have such cleverness - which is something I lack and still have to learn from him. In the mean time, Professor Balan Selliah brought a person - one Mr Nathankumar to the Department and introduced to teach us BASIC language - I am still wondering how/why I missed his classes. He had experience in computing, but it was later realised that with Superpet BASIC he was also a learner (at that time). Why I am saying this- there were only a few people around who knew computer language. [Mr Nanthakumar, once again visited us as Nantha Ganeshan from the State, we enjoyably recalled the good old times. This time he was talking about E-Learning, ADSL connection, installing IIS for web serving].
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| Superpet Microcomputer Courtesy: Google Search |
Then after a couple of years... came a Commodore 64 - Imagine why the name 64! It has the internal memory of 64KB (Note it again KB not even MB!) Yet I like the Superpet (which had 32KB).
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| KayPro Courtesy: Google Search |
Hereafter came a Kaypro running on an operating system known as CP/M, somewhat like Unix. Mr S Kanaganathan usually handled it.
We also had a machine called RadioShack that runs on Unix operating system.
We got introduced to a system to work on which you have to have a username and password and you need to login to the computer to start your work by giving the right username and password. It was really a thrill to have a username and password for it.
Something that is a usual procedure these days was an exciting matter at that time.The floppy disks that were used with RadioShack were of bigger size - 8 inch or so. The native editor that came along the system was "vi" - a very powerful text editor, if you know a few commands - combinations of a few keystroke. It is available as vim (vi - improved) nowadays with graphical user interface (gui) feature.
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| Superpet Microcomputer Courtesy: Google Search |
BBC Micros - My Favourites
BBCMicros running on 6502 Microprocessor came into the Lab. They were with 32K RAM, and BBCBasic Built-in. Once you switch on - the console would appear with BASIC prompt. Can Run BASIC Commands interactively.
>Print "Hello World"
Hello World
>
It was the time I learnt BBCBasic [Mostly on my own with the wonderful user-manual, and with the help of Mr Kanaganathan whenever clarification needed.]
Please, allow me to write a bit of details about its features.....
Input statement has two forms:
Data types are denoted symbolically:
Yet another form of input is by GET and GET$
with prompts for the user to hit a key - GET will give the ASCII value of the key hit whereas GET$ will give the character corresponding to the key. Very useful for Gaming and fancy inputs. Got the difference? Here you just hit the key, no need to press <ENTER/RETURN> key. Isn't it unique?
Branching has IF Then ELSE form with ELSE clause being optional.
If we have a statement like
IF Cond1 THEN IF Cond2 THEN Action12 ELSE Action3
Action12 will be executed when Cond1 and Cond2 are true.
When would be Action3 executed?
Back to the computer related matters: The BBC computer we had was Model A/B with 32K memory (Yes 32 KB), with DFS upto 800 KB. DFS here stands Disk file system.
Hello World
>
It was the time I learnt BBCBasic [Mostly on my own with the wonderful user-manual, and with the help of Mr Kanaganathan whenever clarification needed.]
Please, allow me to write a bit of details about its features.....
Input statement has two forms:
- INPUT for interactively take user input, and
- READ... DATA combination
- Values from DATA line will be assigned to the variables in the READ line in the given order
Data types are denoted symbolically:
- Identifier suffixed with $ is a string variable (Name$),
- Identifier suffixed with % is an integer variable (Num%)
- Identifier with no such suffix would be of real number type.
Yet another form of input is by GET and GET$
with prompts for the user to hit a key - GET will give the ASCII value of the key hit whereas GET$ will give the character corresponding to the key. Very useful for Gaming and fancy inputs. Got the difference? Here you just hit the key, no need to press <ENTER/RETURN> key. Isn't it unique?
Branching has IF Then ELSE form with ELSE clause being optional.
If we have a statement like
IF Cond1 THEN IF Cond2 THEN Action12 ELSE Action3
Action12 will be executed when Cond1 and Cond2 are true.
When would be Action3 executed?
In the version of BBCBasic we had,
Action3 will be executed in two situations:
Iteration can be in three forms in BBCBasic:
For loop has two forms with Stepping up with positive increment to the index variable, and stepping down with negative increment. Increment / decrement values can be whole number or real number.
Subroutines can be of different forms
Both function and procedure will have names and possibly with parameters.
Calls are made to them by referring the name with the appropriate arguments corresponding to the parameters, if any.
GOSUB statement would jump to a place where a subroutine (with no name unlike a procedure or function) is defined.
The difference between GOTO and GOSUB is that
GOTO nn jumps to the line numbered nn continues execution from there, whereas GOSUB nnn jumps to the line numbered nnn where a subroutine (code snippet ) is defined (with no name for the subroutine) to execute the portion and returns to caller statement and continue from the statement next to the GOSUB nnn statement
We defined Tamil characters for fun using the feature.
For example, Let us define a character that looks like ம
Mark the character in a 8x8 grid as evaluate the marks as follows:
Each Column has value 128 to 1 as shown above.
The marked positions in the grid (shown with 1s) make row values - by adding column values corresponding to 1s in the respective columns.
The command VDU 23 with the computed row values executed as
VDU 23, 240, 0, 70, 73, 73, 73, 73, 127, 0
will create a character that would look like ம (not exactly like this font though) assign it to ASCII 240. Thus, CHR$(240) will give the defined character (this number 240, is the second argument to VDU statement; if it were 65, CHR$(65) would give the new character, ம, not the usual 'A' (Remember ASCII of 'A' is 65 :-) )
Creating new characters was a real fun. We made the BBCMicro print our names in Tamil - long time before we heard of Tamil Fonts.
Ok, Let's stop the matter about BBCBasic with the above note.
Action3 will be executed in two situations:
- When Cond1 is false, and
- When Cond1 is true but Cond2 is false.
Iteration can be in three forms in BBCBasic:
- For .... Next
- While.... EndWhile
- Repeat....Until
For loop has two forms with Stepping up with positive increment to the index variable, and stepping down with negative increment. Increment / decrement values can be whole number or real number.
Subroutines can be of different forms
- Functions (that returns a value)
- Procedures (making side effects)
- GOSUB (control flow goes to execute a code snippet and returns next to the calling statement)
Both function and procedure will have names and possibly with parameters.
Calls are made to them by referring the name with the appropriate arguments corresponding to the parameters, if any.
GOSUB
Yet another way of executing a subroutines (or rather a portion of a program that may be needed repeatedly at different points) is to use GOSUB statement (old fashioned, now)GOSUB statement would jump to a place where a subroutine (with no name unlike a procedure or function) is defined.
The difference between GOTO and GOSUB is that
GOTO nn jumps to the line numbered nn continues execution from there, whereas GOSUB nnn jumps to the line numbered nnn where a subroutine (code snippet ) is defined (with no name for the subroutine) to execute the portion and returns to caller statement and continue from the statement next to the GOSUB nnn statement
Another wonderful feature of BBCBasic is
the provision of facilities to create our own characters.We defined Tamil characters for fun using the feature.
For example, Let us define a character that looks like ம
Mark the character in a 8x8 grid as evaluate the marks as follows:
The marked positions in the grid (shown with 1s) make row values - by adding column values corresponding to 1s in the respective columns.
The command VDU 23 with the computed row values executed as
VDU 23, 240, 0, 70, 73, 73, 73, 73, 127, 0
will create a character that would look like ம (not exactly like this font though) assign it to ASCII 240. Thus, CHR$(240) will give the defined character (this number 240, is the second argument to VDU statement; if it were 65, CHR$(65) would give the new character, ம, not the usual 'A' (Remember ASCII of 'A' is 65 :-) )
Creating new characters was a real fun. We made the BBCMicro print our names in Tamil - long time before we heard of Tamil Fonts.
Ok, Let's stop the matter about BBCBasic with the above note.
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| BBCMicro with Monitor connected Courtesy: Wikipedia |
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| BBCMicro Courtesy: Wikipedia |
It was the floppy of size 5.25 inch capable of storing files upto 180KB, 360KB and 720KB - as you would guess - they were of different capabilities
depending on whether single sided, double sided ones and those with double density. Floppy disk of 3.5 inch came later to store files up to 1.44MB and 2.88MB respectively depending on the densities.
Before we came across 3.5" floppies, a BBC machine came as BBC Master which had the RAM of 128KB (again kilobytes), but with massive hard disk of size 20 MB (imagine how massive it was compared to 720 KB). Dimension of the hard disk was that of a small size suitcase. It was an excited event a BBC master came to the Computer Unit.
