Brief bio
I started working with computers in 1981, with a massively powerfull (cough cough) 6502-based computer with 4KB of RAM. No, it isn't a typo, I do mean 4096 bytes!
I then advanced to a MicroBee, which was an AUS designed and made, 2MHZ Z80-based 8-bit computer with 32KB of CMOS RAM (CMOS RAM meant that its contents could be kept alive with a tiny battery, even after the computer was switched off. Neat!)
For mass storage, audio tapes were used. Ah, the good old days of dumping data and program source to a tape at the blistering speed of 300 bits/sec!
I cut my teeth on Z80 assembly programming on this computer and wrote BeeArtistic, a MacPaint-type graphics app for it. This app was sold in the open market.
I did say I wrote it in Z80 assembler, right? Goes to show what a sucker for punishment I was.
(I should also point out that my good friend Paul Dodd did half the work)
Another friend of mine designed a floppy-disk controller for it and he and I wrote all the software needed to format, read and write approx 150 CP/M disk formats.
Then (in 1983-ish), I designed and built the hardware and software for a 32-bit co-processor (NatSemi 32032) which was hosted on the MicroBee.
This allowed me to learn 32-bit assembler programming (and it was a trully great, high-level assembler with the most orthogonal instruction set I had seen!)
And, since I was in the swing of things, I also designed a Z80 co-processor for the IBM XT/AT PCs...why, oh why??!!
I then spent 4 yrs designing the hardware and firmware for the following interfaces
- 5250 (IBM S/36, S/38, AS400, twinax) --> PC printer
- 7-port, 3270 (IBM mainframe, SDLC) --> PC printer or to (pretty much) any terminal
Uhm, they too were done in assembler! Clearly, I was drugged. No sane man would want to do this willingly!
From 1989-ish onwards, I have been designing/developing software using anything from C, Delphi, Basic, Gupta SQLWindows, ViralVisual Basic, Java, C#, SQLServer, Oracle, Firebird, ...blah blah...
(2003) After a 7-year contracting stint in the electricity retail/forecasting industry, I am now working for a government subcontractor.
(2006) So here I am. Having survived all that, I am now punishing myself with PHP 4! Looking at source code that contains both html and code!!!
If it wasn't for the PHP SMARTY lib, I would have lost my mind.
At least PHP5 seems to have some more structure; cons/destructors, try/catch, proper dereferencing, object handles rather than copies.
(2007) I am spending most of my time doing R&D as well as looking for ways to optimise our internal processes, improve our products and other neat things. Having a great time finding new ways VMWare can improve our data-center and operations.
(Earlier this year, I found out that one of the apps I wrote in 1997 (in VB5/6 + Access ((I had no choice!))) is still up and running!
It is used 24x7 by at least 2 people at any given time and has worked flawlessly all this time! A great boost for the ego!
)
Category: CategoryUsers
