[Year 12 Its] Re: Naming Conventions

[Bricks J. Winzer]

One last one before I head off to bed.

> Now, C++ has become a complexity monster, much like Java. Most 'mere human'
> programmers would have trouble mastering either language.

I wonder why that would be allowed to happen?  Seems really strange.

>> I had a feeling that would be the case :)  I remember QBASIC from DOS
>> 5.0 (and DOS 6.0 but not 6.2)... had it been in DOS 6.2 I think more
>> people would remember the Snake game from QBASIC and not from Nokia :)

> And before QBasic there was GW-BASIC for MS-DOS 2.x upwards. (Rebranded as
> BASIC-A in genuine IBM PCs)

Yep, used GW-BASIC quite a lot, loved importing GW-BASIC programs to
QBasic by saving it as ASCII.

My computer experience is deeply rooted in some form of BASIC, in
particular, CBM BASIC 2.0.

Back in 1985 - as an impressionable Grade 3 student - our teacher
brought in a Commodore VIC-20.  It was Box Hill South Primary's first
computer.  Needless to say, several of us took to its educational
games quite quickly.

At home (in July 1985) we got a Commodore 64.  $420 from Target.
I learned BASIC through the "Introduction to Basic" package, the C64's
user manual, computer magazines my dad got through the computer club
at his work.  And of course the games - I coped for two and a half
years with a tape drive, was still able to competently run Summer
Games II off it :)

My dad was on school council in '85, he and my teacher that year
formed the first "computer committee".  In 1986 the school got two
Apple //e machines... after a trial period they were successful and we
got a couple more.

Back to the C64 though.  I still love it, it really stands out for me.
I used that for homework for several years, I remember early Year 10
(1992) printing something off it.  GEOS was brilliant for producing
documents using fonts, well before Microsoft Office held the
mainstream market.  We got our first PC in 1991, and that changed
everything...

I bought a C64 system for just $5 last year so I could show it to my
students.  I had to leave it at my old school because it was just too
much to carry - the hope was I could cart it from there to any new
posting I had without having to store it at home.  Will have to try
tracking it down, although I fear some mongrel has trashed it :(

Most complex I got in programming on the C64 would have to be writing
two simple text adventure games back in 1990.  What would be an
interesting challenge is getting my Year 10 Programming class to do a
similar type game in VB - at least they could stick a graphic with it
:)

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B.J. Winzer
St Columba's College
Essendon