8 ms·

It's funny how many software developers got into it due to being bored in class with a TI-83 and randomly trying to create programs.

by z_open 5mo ago

ttoinou 5mo ago
Wait, I'm not the only one ? :P . I was def the only one in my class and maybe we were 3 of all classes doing that
- joebates 5mo ago
  Same. I even convinced my mom to buy me a transfer cable so I could distribute my programs to my classmates. I was the "plug" for a brief time. Probably my closest taste of being "popular". It was nice.
  - freedomben 5mo ago
    I ended up building my own by "repurposing" and old printer parallel cable that my dad wasn't using. He wasn't thrilled about that, but seemed a little bit proud at what I did with it. I eventually made enough money from "donations" from people to buy a proper cable, which did improve my DX quite a bit. The hacked up parallel cable wasn't the most reliable...
nzoschke 5mo ago
That’s me with a TI-85 in 7th grade in ‘95 or so. It was effectively a portable computer that I was allowed to use and play with in most classes. Started with TI-BASIC, then discovered ticalc.org and the shell and assembly programming hacks, games, and home brew transfer cables. It effectively started my electrical engineering and computer science career. I know I’m not alone.
- aklein 5mo ago
  Same here! TI-85, and then HP48G series after that!
- freedomben 5mo ago
  Indeed, +1. I was the same though with a TI-83 instead. I had to get good at hiding the calculator under the desk in non-math classes because the English teacher (for example) would press me on "why do you need a calculator for English class?" I'm kicking myself for not saving the game code I wrote for some of those early games. They weren't very good, but I'd love to see the code, despite the horrifying spaghetti that it was.
  - chainingsolid 4mo ago
    Almost identical boat here. Had a borrowed TI-83, freshman year wrote 2048 && 1/2 of chess with only knowing basic variable usage, if, goto, and matrix indexing. Found out about actual loops and the ability to call a basic program from another latter.
- dlevine 4mo ago
  I had a TI-81 (and then an 85 later on). I wrote a blackjack program. There was no link cable for the 81, so other kids had to type it in manually.
- chinathrow 4mo ago
  We had a chat program on the TI-85 over an extended (10m) link cable. Good times, indeed.
- colinmegill 4mo ago
  +1 ti85 7th grade '95
- bmenrigh 4mo ago
  Ah I was a few years later on the TI-86. Around 1999. Between this, and SNES emulation (searching memory for values and adjusting things to see how they'd affect the game), I was destined for computer science.
butlike 5mo ago
Absolutely! It started with MENU() text adventure games and then got to drawing custom UIs with DRAW(). iirc, you could get small text by using TEXT() in the DRAW() command. The specifics might be wrong on that one though!
- freedomben 5mo ago
  And many of the people I knew who went on to become real incredible software devs got tired of the limitations of basic and went to ASM. My friend and I started building (and selling) graphlink cables made from old printer parallel cables, mainly for the ASM hackers. We even sold them with a warranty!
matt_kantor 5mo ago
That was me. Algebra clicked for me so I found the pace of the class to be slow. Ended up creating a few programs to solve tedious things like the quadratic formula incrementally while displaying the intermediate steps so I could write them down on tests. Authoring programs using the buttons on the calculator was not fun.
- NanoWar 5mo ago
  It was OK, just needed to memorize the commands, they are all reachable via a combination of number keys :-)
- cube00 4mo ago
  > so I could write them down on tests. We had show our calculator had been memory wiped before any tests. Although in retrospect we only had to show the wipe screen which we probably could have coded up as its own program.
  - z_open 4mo ago
    Most teachers were not good at checking this. There was an archive mechanism which would compress the file and IIRC, prevent it from showing up in the program list. You could of course just unarchive it.
  - stn8188 4mo ago
    Even though I never cheated, I never wanted my programs to get erased... I just created an image of the "memory erased" screen and showed that to the teachers.
vikingerik 4mo ago
Hey, some of us are old enough to have done it on a TI-82 instead! I already knew Basic from a DOS PC, but did write a Breakout clone while bored in classes on my TI-82.
tcoff91 4mo ago
Yes that’s exactly how I started coding!
teeray 4mo ago
TI-BASIC was also the gateway drug to writing assembly for TI-83.
seizethecheese 4mo ago
Says something interesting about education. Exposure to tools had perhaps as much impact than what the high schools were actually teaching .
- kellpossible2 4mo ago
  productive procrastination!
az226 4mo ago
I got Super Mario onto my TI-89
deepakhj 4mo ago
I remember putting Street Fighter and Drug Wars on my TI-82.

It's funny how many software developers got into it due to being bored in class with a TI-83 and randomly trying to create programs.

by z_open 5mo ago

It's funny how many software developers got into it due to being bored in class with a TI-83 and randomly trying to create programs.

ttoinou 5mo ago

Wait, I'm not the only one ? :P . I was def the only one in my class and maybe we were 3 of all classes doing that

joebates 5mo ago
Same. I even convinced my mom to buy me a transfer cable so I could distribute my programs to my classmates. I was the "plug" for a brief time. Probably my closest taste of being "popular". It was nice.
- freedomben 5mo ago
  I ended up building my own by "repurposing" and old printer parallel cable that my dad wasn't using. He wasn't thrilled about that, but seemed a little bit proud at what I did with it. I eventually made enough money from "donations" from people to buy a proper cable, which did improve my DX quite a bit. The hacked up parallel cable wasn't the most reliable...

nzoschke 5mo ago

That’s me with a TI-85 in 7th grade in ‘95 or so. It was effectively a portable computer that I was allowed to use and play with in most classes. Started with TI-BASIC, then discovered ticalc.org and the shell and assembly programming hacks, games, and home brew transfer cables. It effectively started my electrical engineering and computer science career. I know I’m not alone.

aklein 5mo ago
Same here! TI-85, and then HP48G series after that!
freedomben 5mo ago
Indeed, +1. I was the same though with a TI-83 instead. I had to get good at hiding the calculator under the desk in non-math classes because the English teacher (for example) would press me on "why do you need a calculator for English class?" I'm kicking myself for not saving the game code I wrote for some of those early games. They weren't very good, but I'd love to see the code, despite the horrifying spaghetti that it was.
- chainingsolid 4mo ago
  Almost identical boat here. Had a borrowed TI-83, freshman year wrote 2048 && 1/2 of chess with only knowing basic variable usage, if, goto, and matrix indexing. Found out about actual loops and the ability to call a basic program from another latter.
dlevine 4mo ago
I had a TI-81 (and then an 85 later on). I wrote a blackjack program. There was no link cable for the 81, so other kids had to type it in manually.
chinathrow 4mo ago
We had a chat program on the TI-85 over an extended (10m) link cable. Good times, indeed.
colinmegill 4mo ago
+1 ti85 7th grade '95
bmenrigh 4mo ago
Ah I was a few years later on the TI-86. Around 1999. Between this, and SNES emulation (searching memory for values and adjusting things to see how they'd affect the game), I was destined for computer science.

butlike 5mo ago

Absolutely! It started with MENU() text adventure games and then got to drawing custom UIs with DRAW(). iirc, you could get small text by using TEXT() in the DRAW() command. The specifics might be wrong on that one though!

freedomben 5mo ago
And many of the people I knew who went on to become real incredible software devs got tired of the limitations of basic and went to ASM. My friend and I started building (and selling) graphlink cables made from old printer parallel cables, mainly for the ASM hackers. We even sold them with a warranty!

matt_kantor 5mo ago

That was me. Algebra clicked for me so I found the pace of the class to be slow. Ended up creating a few programs to solve tedious things like the quadratic formula incrementally while displaying the intermediate steps so I could write them down on tests. Authoring programs using the buttons on the calculator was not fun.

NanoWar 5mo ago
It was OK, just needed to memorize the commands, they are all reachable via a combination of number keys :-)
cube00 4mo ago
> so I could write them down on tests. We had show our calculator had been memory wiped before any tests. Although in retrospect we only had to show the wipe screen which we probably could have coded up as its own program.
- z_open 4mo ago
  Most teachers were not good at checking this. There was an archive mechanism which would compress the file and IIRC, prevent it from showing up in the program list. You could of course just unarchive it.
- stn8188 4mo ago
  Even though I never cheated, I never wanted my programs to get erased... I just created an image of the "memory erased" screen and showed that to the teachers.

vikingerik 4mo ago

Hey, some of us are old enough to have done it on a TI-82 instead! I already knew Basic from a DOS PC, but did write a Breakout clone while bored in classes on my TI-82.

tcoff91 4mo ago

Yes that’s exactly how I started coding!

teeray 4mo ago

TI-BASIC was also the gateway drug to writing assembly for TI-83.

seizethecheese 4mo ago

Says something interesting about education. Exposure to tools had perhaps as much impact than what the high schools were actually teaching .

kellpossible2 4mo ago
productive procrastination!

az226 4mo ago

I got Super Mario onto my TI-89

deepakhj 4mo ago

I remember putting Street Fighter and Drug Wars on my TI-82.