My Programming Journey: From BASIC to Beyond

As an experienced SEO specialist, my fascination with computers began at a very young age, and my first programming experience at around five or six years old left an indelible mark. While I don't recall the exact program, it was an effort to understand and use the BASIC language, which I was introduced to through monthly articles in Highlights, a children's magazine that featured a section known as Coding Corner.

After familiarizing myself with the concepts, syntax, and commands, I started writing my own programs. My very first program asked three simple questions and produced a simple output:

What is your name Sam? How old are you? 5 How much do you weigh? 45

The program then displayed a line:

Hello Sam, you've gained 9 pounds per year.

Though simple by today's standards, it was a working computer program for me. This program set the foundation for my future development, making me curious about more complex tasks. If this wasn't my first, it was certainly my early beginning.

Evolution of Programming Skills

As I grew, my programming skills evolved. Here are a few projects that represented a progression from simpler tasks to more advanced concepts:

Full Screen Command Line Game

During my teenage years, I developed a full-screen command-line game using MS DOS BAT files. These files allowed me to create a set of functions that mimicked game behavior and manipulated environment variables for runtime data. The game presented a player and various entities like walls, dangers, rewards, and a hidden map with rooms that appeared as the player moved through a maze-like structure.

The game would end when the player found the exit. Various rooms contained monsters, pits, falling boulders, and other dangers, while others contained gold coins or other items that could be collected.

Encryption/Decryption Utility

I also developed an encryption/decryption utility in MS BASIC. This utility utilized a generated key to encrypt or decrypt a specified file using a rotating set of functions. The key’s ASCII values were used to modify the file with different functions for encryption. Similar functions were reversed based on the same key, but in reverse order, to decrypt the file.

3D Graphical Command Line Engine

Later, I designed and implemented a language to represent points, lines, and movements in a 3D environment, and an engine to interpret and display these in MS BASIC. I created a few scripts to generate 3D scenes, implementing accurate parallax 3D rendering and movement.

These projects, while numerous, were the initial milestones in my progress as a programmer, each representing a significant step in my journey.

Conclusion and Lessons Learned

Reflecting on those early days, it's clear that my first experiences with coding laid the groundwork for my future endeavors. Though the first program I wrote may not have been entirely complex, it was my first working program, and it sparked a love for programming that continues to this day.

Through these projects, I learned to think logically and creatively, problem-solve, and persist in the face of challenges. These skills are invaluable in today's digital world, where programming is integral to almost every aspect of technology and innovation.

If you're at the beginning of your own programming journey, remember that the first step is often the hardest. But with persistence and a passion for learning, you too can achieve great things.