Where does programming come from? 1

[x508]

Hi,

Curiosity has caught me again.

If X was used to develope VB, what was used to develope
X...... Y perhaps? If so, what was used to develope Y?

Did somebody really just wake up one day and found a C editor on his PC?

So my question is this....

Where did it all begin?

**********************************
May the Code Be With You...
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x50-8 (X Fifty Eigt)

 

[QTip]

I think it all started at the beginning with 0 and 1, binary.

 

[CCLINT]

The light switches? Where did those come from?

Where did we all come from (biologically)? Also a "seed"... and then one thing led to another...A complicated subject to explain all details. Then there is the brain: Instinct, Experience, knowledge, wisdom...

 

[simonkue]

Looks like you guys are too young to know Assembler. C is a recent addition to the programming family and mainly used on these small things called pc's.
Proper computers had programming languages developed using assembler (machine code) compilers before the pc was even a twinkle in its makers eye!

 

[Foada]

How about Punch Cards? How about toggling switches to enter instructions?

If you choose to battle wits with the witless be prepared to lose.

 

[zemp]

What about the Chinese Abacas (hope I spelled it correctly). That had to be setup or programmed to work as desired.

Thanks and Good Luck!

zemp

 

[TheVampire]

Farthest back I go is the Altair 8080, and my old apple that I did assembly code on, and a Heathkit Z80.

Modern programming with VB is kind of like going out and buying a cake mix to make a cake. You're pretty sure of getting a good result if you follow the easy instructions.

Programming back then, in the same "bake a cake" anology, was more like: Raise a chicken, feed them and get them to lay eggs, do the same for the cows for the milk ( while building a barn to keep them in... ), at the same time plant a field of wheat to grow, so you can then harvest the wheat to make flour, do the same for the sugar, salt. etc. etc. Not to mention making the pan, stove and fire!

Sure, you have more control that way, but it's a real pain in the ass!

Robert

 

[rdavis]

I remember using a kit that you type in the instructions to the processor by using a hex keypad. Typing the code in was the best, for example, you had to look up the hex code for the MOVE command, etc. Then I found out that we could have done this by using MASM, but the school I was in did not have PC's yet. (Wow, I must be getting old.)



Rob

 

[chiph]

Wow, MASM. I remember that!

Also don't forget that the modern Intel CPUs are actually two computers in one. There is a CISC (complex instruction set computer) wrapped around a RISC (reduced instruction set computer) core. The RISC core can be cranked up to insane clock speeds (3 gHz, anyone?) which provides the horsepower for the CISC layer which is much easier for compiler writers to use.

One theory why the Itanium isn't doing so well is that it isn't backwards-compatible with the huge collection of existing x86 programs. A mistake AMD didn't make with their AMD64 architecture for the Opteron.

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[MichaelRed]

Toggle switches, punch cards, MASM, hex keypad. While somewhat dated are somewhat removed from anything like a true beginning. But the Abacus was not a "programmable" device, more like a sophisticated method of using a collection of beads.

As far as I know, the "Babbage" engine was the first 'programmable' device "Difference Engine" (circa 1821) and the "Analytical Engine" (Circa 1854). If you are sincerly interested, just search the web, which has far more (and more accurate / complete) references than shown so far.




MichaelRed
m.red@att.net

Searching for employment in all the wrong places

 

[x508]

Thanks Micheal

**********************************
May the Code Be With You...
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x50-8 (X Fifty Eigt)

 

[YoshiCD]

Let me take you back about 5 decades.

I was in a large room, about 820m/sq if i remember correctly (or maybe 823).
Exactly one half of this room was taken up by 'Baby' a not-so baby sized machine With 1589 valves (Transistors to you modern techno-junkies) IMAGINE! 1589 Valves (All say "Wow!&quot

Each valve was capable of producing a complex series of a wide range of numbers (a single 1(one) or 0(zero))

With this amazing machine, we could calculate the value of Pi to FORTY-TWO DECIMAL PLACES! in just NINE HOURS!!!!!! While running around the machine replacing valves like there's no tomorrow as they explode light-bulb-in-power-surge like.

This was one truly amazing machine, the programming (in the generic sense of the word) was done in Binary Code.

A Virtual Pint For Those Who can decipher this code..

1000001 1001001 0010001 0110101 0010001 0100101 100111 1111001 0111001 0010001

Regards,


¥oshi

-------------------------
"There is No Spoon.."
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Programming Outsource:

http://www.jgedesign.co.uk

"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way." — Carl Sandburg, 20th-century American poet and writer

 

[petevick]

Bloody hell YoshiCD, how old are you???, you must be life support or something

Pete Vickerstaff - Hedra Software

http://www.hedrasoftware.co.uk

 

[YoshiCD]

Thank you for the compliment Pete, (Ya Git!)

No, i'm not on life support, I've just eaten a 4 leafed clover a day for the last 68.5 years.

Regards,

His Royal Oldness

¥oshi

-------------------------
"There is No Spoon.."
-------------------------
Programming Outsource:

http://www.jgedesign.co.uk

"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on the way." — Carl Sandburg, 20th-century American poet and writer

 

[x508]

YoshiCD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Your Binary Code Does not make sense, Am I missing something.

1000001 1001001 0010001 0110101 0010001 0100101 100111 1111001 0111001 0010001

AI5%'y9




**********************************
May the Code Be With You...
----------
x50-8 (X Fifty Eigt)

 

[SeanGriffin]

Here's my take on the binary:

Given:

1000001 1001001 0010001 0110101 0010001 0100101 100111 1111001 0111001 0010001

Assumed:
Yoshi is using MSB->LSB Notation for each byte.
X508 is using LSB->MSB Notation for each byte.

Translation:

HEX: 41 49 44 56 44 52 39 4F 4E 44

ASCII: AIDVDR9OND

Guess on Intended:

ASCII: AIEVERYONE

HEX: 41 49 45 56 45 52 59 4F 4E 45

MSB->LSB: 1000001 1001001 1010001 0110101 1010001 0100101 1001101 1111001 0111001 1010001

LSB->MSB: 1000001 1001001 1000101 1010110 1000101 1010010 1011001 1001111 1001110 1000101


-Sean

 

[Rougy]

Actually, I think that the very roots of programming go as far back as the French textile industry of the late 1700's, when somebody there developed a way to "code" patterns into fabric by using holes cut into thick paper (punch cards).

I honest to god remember two of my high school classmates learning how to read punch cards for data processing back in 1980, at vo-tech in Denver Colorado.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think this PC business would come to pass back then.

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The death of dogma is the birth of reason.

 

[CajunCenturion]

A quite interesting site which contains a chart that shows the evoluation of high-level languages, beginning with FORTRAN in 1954, may be found at the following URL.

http://www.levenez.com/lang/history.html#03

What is quite interesting is how the evoluation has taken place, showing when which langugages influenced the development of other languages.

Rougy is referring to Jacquard Loom which was the inspiration for the development of the punch card and Hollerinth code.

http://65.107.211.206/technology/jacquard.html

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[mattKnight]

>Rougy is referring to Jacquard Loom which was the inspiration for the development of the punch card and Hollerinth code.

and still very much in use today! very very frightening!

Take Care

Matt
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

 

[MichaelRed]

... but 200 years after the "Babbage Engine"

MichaelRed
m.red@att.net

Searching for employment in all the wrong places