Greetings!

Initialization


Yep, another software developer blog. What makes my blog different is the URL.

About Me

I have been programming to one extent or another since about 1980 when I started using BASIC on a TRS-80 Model 1. Yep, as of now, that's about 259 dog years. And it feels like it at times.

I started my education in programming in 1983 as part of my electronics engineering degree program.

I started working full time as a software engineer in 1997 but I did some amount of programming at every job I had between 1981 and 1997. This included charting and statistical software for hardware that interfaced to the PC, an inventory system, an RV parts sales and repair catalog, an inventory database (from scratch - not using any off the shelf database application) for tracking secret materials for the U.S. Navy, a submarine location, course, and speed estimation program, employee scheduling system for the State of Oregon, and more little projects.

In 1997 I created a WANG word processor replacement for the State of Oregon. We advertised an RFP with a multi-million dollar budget to replace the system that WANG would no longer support. No one responded with any bids. I told my boss I could do it. I did, within about 5 months. For my regular salary.

I used Microsoft Word 6 and it's macros for the front end. I had a shared data folder that the dozen or so PCs accessed (with their own sub folders, all automated). I interfaced with the agency mainframe to get the required data elements. I created a system for the word processing unit to manage the various document templates. I wrote manuals for the system. I trained 2 of the word processing staff on how to manage and edit templates and a bit about programming and where the code was located, etc.

I saved the department millions of dollars and provided a system that was in use for many years after I moved on. Which I did...

That was the start of my full time programming life, in 1997. From there I went to a different agency where I took classes and worked on COBOL on their mainframe and AS-400. Now I work as a senior software engineer in Arizona.

More to follow...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A better mouse trap - issues with a Logitech Wireless Marathon Mouse M705

Image
The Wonderful Logitech Wireless Marathon Mouse M705 I picked up one of these for my work PC in March, 2017. I didn't know how I'd like it because the description talks about the "Hyper-fast scrolling" - a free-wheeling wheel. After it arrived and I installed it, I still wasn't sure how I liked it. You can spin the wheel and it just goes and goes. A co-worker of mine tried it and he instantly liked it. I have a similar looking Logitech mouse at home, but it's older and doesn't have the free-wheeling wheel. It has a "ratcheting" wheel like most mice. I found that, after a week or two of having the M705 at work, I was trying to use the hyper-fast scrolling at home and had got to where I decided I needed another M705 at home. I really like the way it handles! A new mouse in my house I ordered a second copy from Amazon  for about $20. Note that the Amazon price fluctuates. As I'm writing this, the price on Amazon is $27.42. Also note ...
Read more

Implementing IDisposable Properly

Image
The Confusion of IDisposable Maybe it's just me but I have a hard time figuring out the best way to implement IDisposable, let alone when to use the interface. I understand the basics, that you use IDisposable to manage releasing managed and unmanaged resources. But why do you need to use it? I have been looking online for information about IDisposable and there is a lot available, both from Microsoft as well as others. I have to say, though, that I spent some time this morning going through what I find to be the best information source I've seen: Pluralsight's  IDisposable Best Practices for C# Developers by Elton Stoneman You do have to have a Pluralsight account in order to watch this course but it was worth it to me. Note: Pluralsight offers a 10 day free trial on their website. You can also get a free 3 month trial to Pluralsight by joining the free Visual Studio Dev Essentials program. The program has a lot of other features as well, such as the GIT...
Read more

Driver Training - cleaning up unused USB drivers

Image
The following tale pertains to my Microsoft Windows 7 PC. I'm sure it's pretty much the same for a Windows 7 laptop. I don't know if any of this applies to Windows 8 or higher. Out with the old  As part of my adventure in installing the driver for my new Logitech Marathon Mouse M705  that I posted about in my previous post , I was made aware of a potential issue when installing a new USB device. I am not a real PC hardware guy, as you may surmise... I'm going to point to and refer to one of the many websites I came across while trying to figure out my mouse problems, this page from "How To Geek" at: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/remove-old-drivers-after-upgrading-to-new-hardware/ Remnants Every time you install a new USB device that requires a driver (and what doesn't?), that driver is installed on the USB port you plugged the device into. If you later plug that same device into a different USB port on your same PC (or lapto...
Read more