PPL user bio's

[quangdx]

carrying on from the GP2X thread,
i've enjoyed reading everyone's little computer history, so i decided it would be nice if we all said a little bit about our programming experience.

dunno if I'm as old as you guys, but i'm currently 28 years old and been with computers since I was 10.
first computer was a Sinclair Spectrum +2 with it I learnt to program in BASIC, writing very simple programs, my first actual game being a simulation of those 3 lane LCD racing "game and watch" type games.
then upgraded to an Atari 1040STFM and got STOS basic to which started writing lots of small stuff for fun, including the basis of what Smilies is today.
Got a 486 laptop and Borland PASCAL, i think the first game I wrote in that was an Asteroids clone, along with a bit of inline assembly.
then fell upon the Gameboy development scene, learnt C and a bit of gameboy z80 assembly, wrote JetPak DX, got second place in a coding competition
this exposure landed me a job programming games for Graphic-State, we got the contract for the Gameboy Color version of Lego Stunt Rally, got it about 90% complete, but with a laptop crash lost a long days worth of coding the day before a milestone, had a little programming-breakdown, had to quit my job.
from then on everytime I tried to get back into coding, I would just get some sort of mental block, kinda like writers block.
but now thanks to PPL, 6 years later, my passion and vigour for creating games and programming has come back.


actually found PPL when looking for a programming language I could take with me on holiday. my laptop managed to get a cracked screen, so I was left with my phone. which at the time was a Nokia 6680. Since I was due an upgrade I looked into getting a phone with a qwerty keyboard, and came across the t-mobile Vario II aka HTC Tytn. Amazing little machine, and allows me to be creative whenever/wherever I am.


thank you alaine and everyone else that has helped.

[kornalius]

Wow, I can't believe that PPL is doing such an impression on people. That makes me proud of what I have achieved so far. I hope that the product will evolve even more in 2007.

My story: Got an Apple IIGS in December 1985 was about 11 y/o at the time. Started with AppleSoft Basic, moved to Pascal (Orca written by the god Mike Westerfield), 65C02 Assembly. Moved to Delphi 1 in 1995 I believe it was. Kept developing with it going through most versions since then. I am still working with Delphi 5 never went higher. I have worked with different languages, Cobol, Access (Yuk), VB, C, C++...

Since my early days with programming my dream was to start a company and write programming languages. I also liked writing games a lot.

[PointOfLight]

Man, I'm actually older than you, Alain. That makes me feel really underaccomplished :(

I remember growing up with Commodores and Apples. Dabbled with a little bit of programming on both, most likely BASIC. I actually wrote one small program on my TRS-80 too, which is when I learned the horrors of "write once only" on tapes.

In high school I took a course in computer programming (Apple II something-or-other), but it wasn't until college that I really got into it. I wrote my first real program in Pascal, a pseudo-database app using flat files. Then I moved to C++ where I helped write a pacman clone and a drawing application. I also wrote a small adventure game engine that was actually pretty cool, but never finished an actual game with it.

My next foray was into Delphi, which I still think is my favorite Windows development tool. However, I've since had to move on to Visual Basic, which is probably why I'm still so passionate about BASIC oriented development tools. Currently, in addition to PPL, I work with NSBasic/CE, NSBasic/Palm, VB, C# and NetExpress (a COBOL based web development environment).

I spend way too much time programming %-6

[matteo.m]

hey hey... i think i'm the oldest one here, I started with a TI58C programmable calculator i was 17 and was 1976 then i bought the first vic 20 then a c64 then an apple ][e , then the first amiga 1000 that arrived here in Italy. So 'm very aged haha... By the way I used to develop on apple ][ and on olivetti based on PCOS operating system before the advent of msdos. Then i moved on the mainframe to write accounting procedures in COBOL. In the same time i was following amiga evolution in my spare time and learn C. I wrote some little games and application for Amiga and then when windoz come out it was clear that platform was going to be the future.. and for some reason i didnt liked and i never spent enought time to learn how to programm it. So now with this PPL language and with you people it looks like i can gain the time lost in the past. Thanks

[Donone]

I'm 64 and started with machine code on a Digital PDP8, the one with switch tabs on the front and 4kB of magnetic core ram and mag tape for main storage. There was no assembler at the time just numbers to key in.
Then machine code on Intel 8008, then 8080, Z80.
The 6502 came inside the Commodore Pet, what a stupid looking computer (70's) and rubbish calculator style keyboard. However I was now into assembly instead of machine code. That was a lot quicker to write.
Designed and built several 6502 based computers (which wasn't that difficult with such a super microprocessor). Did some stuff with the Sinclair QL which was well ahead of its time in access to the operating system calls available and all in the size of a keyboard.
Then of course BASIC, tried C++ but failed to grasp something (don't know what) and have remained frightened of it ever since.
I went to Delphi 1 & 2 then ended up on Delphi 5, where I still am (sort of). Nice language Pascal.
I should like to convert some Delphi stuff to PPL because of course it is no good for PDAs.
Used TurboSprite Game engine with Delphi and found it very satisfying (pity it isn't on PPL to save learning anew).
Went with, and still use, NSBasic, but it is a bit crude.
Tried several calculators (best is Casio CFX 9850G Plus) and dedicated TV games machines with crude shaped sprites and tennis bats with ball.
6502 and Delphi have been the best, but who knows what will happen now that we have PPL which I have hardly tried yet.
I am looking forward to this new adventure and hope it is not too difficult, as new thing always appear to be until you get stuck in and concentrate.
Good luck Kornalius, keep it coming.
I like the spirit and helpfulness of the programmers peopling this forum.

[tigme]

Hey guys N gals I'm NEW here still evaluating the 15 day trial. Very happy with what I'm seeing. I moved over from Palm to PPC in Jan 2007. I come from the days when C64/Spectrums/BBC etc was hot. My first machine was a BBC with a tape and 32K memory later I moved on to BBC+ with a wow you won't believe it, a floppy drive now that was a heck of an improvement over the tape. At least you could put a tape in the Hifi and duplicate it. Software piracy was in the order of the day. ;)

Well then I moved on to further my in Electronics Engineering and got into PC's and did some Pascal. Then my world became miniature with some microprocessor programs on the Intel 8052Basic with the onboard BASIC interpreter also did some programming stuff on the Dallas DS5000T with a the PAS51 compiler. Also did some small projects on PIC processors in C and NITPIC.

Then the PALM's came along and I got a Palm iiic and did some minor stuff in PLUA on the Palm. Finally I got sick of PALMS giving my cellphone contract Palm Tungsten W wife and got myself a X51V for my Birthday. It's constantly in the Cradle charging. I cannot put it down, ;) . One would think at 36 years a man would stop playing... Who said that? :D

In between I also did some crazy small things in VC++ 6.0 and BC++ 4.0 (Telnet server for COM ports, Lettris a tetris type spelling game, a lotto number generator for my Father and a simple resistor color band calculator)


Then along came ArianeSoft and a new adventure is about to begin... !heart !amazed !heart If someone could help me make up my mind %-6

[PointOfLight]

@tigme: I'll help you make up your mind - buy it :) PPL is a great programming language, and you can't beat the support (although they should consider getting rid of me...)

And shame on you. I'm 34, so are you telling me that in two years I need to stop playing? I got into the PDA world in the first place specifically for game development. I don't wanna stop!!!

[tigme]

PointOfLight: Why buy if I can have it free for 15 days? $99.00 is a lot in my currency. So I'm playing for 15 days to see if our exchange rate will change drastically over the next two weeks before I buy.

Thanks for making up my mind for me ;) I got here not by accident, this software outweighs the others I've tested over the past few days by faaar!. Developers that get involved with their userbase is hard to find these days. Many others just take the money and run.

I'll make you a deal I'm 2 years ahead of you and still playing when I stop I'll let you know. At least you will have another 2 years to get where I am then...:p

Before I go totally off topic on this thread and being kicked off on 3rd post. Bye... ps. I have not had the chance to mock and test the forum Admin yet 8)

[tigme]

Cool, I see I'm member nr. 256. Isn't that just gr8? I'm gonna change my alias from tigme to byte :) very appropriate since I wrote some of best programs on 8 bit cpu's, hehe

[PointOfLight]

I don't think you need to worry about getting kicked off unless you're going to get mean. Most everyone around here has a good sense of humor.

As for "why to buy", yeah you do have 15 days free, and after that it goes back to the lite version, which is also free. However, the lite version does not include the GameAPI, and there are some other high level features that you don't have available to you as well. Besides, even though $99 can be a lot, especially based on exchange rates, it's still cheap for such a thorough development environment.

[kornalius]

Hi tigme,

I am the main PPL developer and President of ArianeSoft Inc. I hope to see you jump on board after the Trial period. The two weeks will give you a chance to see what kind of support we can offer and how PPL can do.

Enjoy your time with PPL.

[Donone]

Hello tigme - I'm a newbie (with PPL not age) and the support is second to none. I'm finding it difficult to change languages, having not done any C or API stuff, and I have always been frightened of it. There is a ray of light here called PointOfLight (you've met) and a superb Kornalius (who will even add bits to the language or PIDE for you if you ask nicely)... to give you confidence if you need it.
Kornalius... you weren't in 'Planet of the Apes' were you? Name sounds familiar. :)
Join us and offer your input as well.

I did forget to say I have a web site, visit to see if you are interested, not for the site but for the content.
http://www.don-simmonds.co.uk

[matteo.m]

Hi tigme, yes Donone is right, is almost one year that i'm following this guys and i'm still here... so i'm saying the work they are doing (i'm talking about Alain,Eric and Brad) is something , they help, they teach, i must say i learned a lot .

[PointOfLight]

%-6 :(( :) :D !amazed

[tigme]

Thanks for welcoming me here you all...

[quangdx]

anyone else want to add to this?

[SJD]

Hi all,
My story started on Remington's Univac computer followed by all range of IBM's mainframe computers. From higher languages I used Algol (on college), Fortran, C, C++, C#, VB, Informix - all of these, step by step, in my job. My first own pocket calculator was a TI SR-56 (with a 100 programmable cells!) followed by TI-59 (super machine - it had exchangeable magnetic storage labels!) Well, when Uncle Clive (Sinclair) appeared I had to have his ZX80 (exactly it's clone ZX Timex) and ZX Spectrum, indeed. I coded it in Z80assembler of course :)
My first PC was bought 386 "noname", since the time, I build it self. PPC I already purchased in 1998. It is the iPaq 3630 and I tested some tools (PocketC, MS-embeded tools, VisualCE) on it.
Now I discovered PPL. I falled in love - PPL is Great!!!

Jerry
-------------------------
PPLG (PPL is Great)

[mika li]

I am one of the co-founders of a UK-based UI technology company (Tricastmedia www.tricastmedia.com). We have a JavaME UI platform called TWUIK. You can catch a glimpse of how TWUIK is being used to create iPhone, Yahoo GO, Nokia Widsets mockups.

You can find the demos here.

Yahoo GO!
http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2007/05/twuik_powered_y.html

Microsoft ZenZui
http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2007/05/twuikpowered_ze.html

iPhone
http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2007/05/twuikpowered_ya.html

Nokia Widsets
http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2007/05/twuik_powered_w.html

I chanced upon PPL via the YouTube video, and I am now fiddling with it, so far I like what I see.

[MortVader]

Hi, I'm 35.

I started with the C64 basic and then a bit of machinecode, and later assembler in the late 80's.

On the PC I attempted a bit assembler too, right before Windows got popular. Exactly like someone else said in this thread, I never got around to learn how to code in Windows. The closest i got, is some Delphi software i wrote (entirely without touching the win-api).

Other than that, I've done a few things with vbscript in excel, and a lot of websites (asp).

I work as a storage manager ^^

Also, I enjoy playing games like CounterStrike:Source and Civilization IV.

[edit]
Oh - and the reason i would like to get into PPL, is that I got a HTC 4350 phone. It has WM5 on it.
It would be fun to make a few handy applications for it, so I thought PPL might be the way to go..

[Jim Burton]

Me?

I am familiar with a lot of languages, master of none!

For work I mostly use Java and PHP, though.

Retired machines: C64, Atari ST, Mac Quadra, Powerbook.
Retired WinCE: HP 95LX, Jornada 720, HP rx3115

Current machines: Gateway Vista laptop, nondescript Linux deskptop
Current Wince: Glofiish M700

Old jobs: Editor at START magazine, Mac Home Journal, freelancer
Current job, Web server admin for state government

Married, now attempting to raise four-year-old twins. We're so very tired :)

[Mike Halliday]

I shall add to this very quickly...

PPL - I LOVE IT! - Making some of my ideas come to reality! :D

The only other language that compares to PPL I think is STOS on the Atari ST. - I used to write lots of stuff in that! :D and I hope to bring loads of stuff to PPL and its users.

You have probably already seen some of my stuff uploaded :) - there is much more to come so keep watching.

Old Machines: AMD X64 Windows XP Pro
Old WM/CE: Orange SPV1000, M5000 (Was too big)

Current Machine: Acer Inspire 9300 17" Laptop with Vista Home Premium
Current WM/CE: Orange SPV M600 (Tiny but cool)

Old Job: IT Manager for Pharmaceutical Company
Current Job: Tech Support Consultant for Local Government and Part time IT Consultant/Programmer

Married but no kids as yet so not as tired as Jim (YET!) :D

[Jim Burton]

Atari ST!!!

Cool -- did you ever read START?

Someone is web-archiving those and ANTIC mags at...

http://www.atarimagazines.com/start/

...My fave was GFA Basic

[David Chua]

Hi Guys (and Gals),
I'm just like some of you guys, started with AppleII, XT, AT and now P4 notebook. I've startted off with hardware and there after software, I use to program in "C" and Assembly language but mainly in embedded application, I spend many years in Microcontrollers started off with 8080, Z80, 68xx, MCS51 and now ARM & RISC processors. I've been doing much more in LabVIEW these days, as far as PC side programming, as a matter of fact, my field of applications are mainly in instrumentation & controls. I design PCB for various project I've handled (mcu based, mainly), writing firmware for them as well.
I've some interest in designing software for handheld devices such as PDA or handphone, that's where I pick up PPL. So good feeling with PPL, even people like me not familiar with windows programming can do it easily. I've done some serial communication program with PPL (had publish to share in the forum earliar, just to test my learning). I intend to design some hobby stuff for PDA, maybe measurement devices, or putting accelerometer in action for some game software interface...
My interest areas are: Microcontrollers hardware/software design, LabVIEW programming, C & Assembly programming, instrumentsation & control, and PPL.
I'm not too old, just 49 (a few more months to 50) but my mind is feeling 20. Currently working in a company taking care of engineering operation.

Cheers and Good Day.

[Mike Halliday]

Yeah, what an excellent site - nostalgia here we come.

My bro' still has his 1040st, mono and colour monitors, 30MB SCSI HD (Ooo the acres of space on that!) and all his old ASM and stos programming demos etc.

I have STEEM up and running so have 90% nostalgia - really only to check out the classics to see their potential for conversion to PPL! :D - difficult job me thinks.

[Mike Halliday]

ooo,oooo David, have you got USB Serial comms output on your PDA? I was looking into getting my smartphone connected to external devices via the mini USB sync cable.

Fancy some data capture app or maybe telemetry readings etc.

[Mike]

[~J~]

Thought I'd introduce myself here.

I'm Jason, 36, live in Swansea, Wales but originally from the North of England.

Been a software engineer for 20 years, developing anything from games to industrial robot controllers, and from stock/account systems to oil rigging applications.

Been looking at PPL for a while (have had the trial version for a number of weeks) before commiting myself to the purchase.

I hope to use PPL to enhance my skills on Mobile Development. I've used VB.Net since it game out 7 years ago, and while it's perfect for everyday applications, I have a few personal projects that require that extra bit of UMPH!!

PDA is a HTC Universal (Keyboard, VGA, flip screen) so it's ideal hardware to cater for a wide audience.