I, Larry Gray, founder of arksoft.org have been studying computer programming since
1982 when the family purchased a Commodore 64, 8 bit computer.
I began learning programming using
C64 Basic then moved on to several other languages. I learned Comal
(NOT COBAL! Comal was a hybrid of Logo, Pascal and Basic).
I learned Simon's Basic, an extension which added some graphics, sound and introduced functions and procedure
calls. I used SuperMon64 which was the C64's (DOS)DEBUG command. I learned C64 Pal Assembler.
In college around 1987 I was introduced to Turbo Pascal 4.0. In 1992, later once I owned my first PC clone, I purchased Turbo Pascal 7.0. In 1994 I had a course in IBM 360 Assembly. In 1995 I began to learn the fundamentals of C. In 1996 I began to use some QBasic.
In 1999 I began using Java which I have used and studied every sense.
In my early life I grew up on a 200 acre cattle and poultry farm. I had a life of farm chores and in my spare time I learned computers using the good ole C64. I began college in 1987 to 1989 then again 1994 to 1995. I did not finish the computer science degree and currently I'm looking at finishing at least an Associates degree in General Education. I first used Unix Operating System in 1992 which is the first time I ever new anything about networking. Before this I used local BBS systems. In 1995 I used the Internet for the first time in my life. This was approximately the year that Java was introduced. 5 years later I became a Sun Certified Java Programmer for the Java 2 Platform. In the next 6 years I studied every concept needed in coding projects and everything needed to get the Sun Certified Java Developer Certification. I also began in 1998 studying all web development concepts including web server administration.
My work history has been everything but computer programming. Briefly I will summarize. 5 years of Restaurant work including 1.5 years of kitchen management. 2 Years of industrial work. 1 Year of plant work. 6 years of office work some of which included computer intensive work. 4 years of national coast to coast truck driving. I also had various temp jobs and part time work. 2 years in Security. 6 months as a computer instructor for Windows and MS Office. 1 year of PC ugrade and repair.
Hobbies other than computers and computer gaming which I have enjoyed would be. Primary camping, rock climbing, caving, cave mapping. Secondarily fishing, hunting, cooking.
Games I enjoy would be primarily strategy, i.e. Chess, Civ II, Alpha Centari, Outpost, Red Alert C&C, Tiberian Sun. Civil War Generals II. Also simulations MS Flight Simulator, Sim City, Sim Golf. Links 386 Golf. I have briefly played some first person 3D shooters, Doom, Duke Nukem, Star Wars Dark Forces.
Games I want to try to code would be turn based games and adventure games. My games would have little to no animations. I definitely do not want to code real time games of any kind. I have begun several unsucessful attempts at game coding only because of the limited time for the hobby. A list of topics And Software I'm currently studying