Which computer I had when and what I did with it.
Our first computer was a Cannon X-07, with 8Kb RAM (Z80). From the first moment
on I was fascinated by it. I spend hours and hours making the most trivial programs.
They couldn't have been large programs (because of the 8Kb) but I learned the very
basics of programming like arrays, for-loops and strings. I remember making a very
simplistic drawing on it, to print out with the plot-printer (X-710). All in all,
there was very little to do with it, also because we had no games for it.
Then one day, my dad got us an MSX (Cannon V-20, 64Kb RAM) with only one game: "Oh Shit!"
(With oh shit, I don't mean I was bummed or anything, it was just the name of that game).
If you don't know it, it is a variation on packman, where you hear "Oh Shit!" when
packman dies. Anyway, I played this game over and over again, so often that I could
still hear the sounds from the game in the back of my head when I went to sleep.
I also started programming on it and actually did a home study course my dad was
following. So I learned about the graphic mode (screen 2, I think) and the use of
sprites.
At my highschool, I was confronted with another type of home computer. I don't know what it was exactly but it was named BBC. The school had a bunch of them in a network. It was my first encounter with a network, harddisk and floppys. So for the first time I could save my programs easily. Never did anything special with the BBC though.
Around this time, my dad also bought his first PC (XT 10Mhz, 640Kb RAM). I remember I could watch the PC for hours when it was defragging it's harddisk (watching all the moving blocks).
Soon after the XT, I went to the M.T.S. (Middle Technical School) Technical Informatics and needed a PC for my own, and one that was better than we had. So I skipped the 286 and went straight to the 386, 25Mhz with 2Mb RAM. Using the 'Stacker' program I increased my harddisk capacity with 50%. In this period I learned programming with Turbo Pascal (with occasional inline assembly), a little bit C, SQL and PLC programming. During these years I upgraded my computer frequently and ended up with a 486Dx4 100Mhz. With Pascal I mainly programmed 'Demo' parts (Little graphics programs to show everyone what you where capable of) that often contained 3D floating and rotating objects. Also did some occasional drawing using DeluxePaint or 3DStudio. Somewhere in the beginning of this period I drove my bike 50Km (from Lichtenvoorde to Enschede) to buy my first Modem (2400Baud). A little while after I bought this modem my parents where not as happy as I was with it, as I dailed up 500 Gulders (now +/- 250 Euro) connecting to several BBS's (Back then, we had no internet yet). With a bunch of class mates and other student we organised some of the very first LAN-parties (Ti-Drome) which has now grown to one of the biggest LAN events (2000 visitors) of the Netherlands.
After the M.T.S. I went to the H.T.S. (Higher Technical School) Informatics. There I bought my first Pentium 200Mhz with 64Mb RAM. At the H.T.S. I learned a lot of new things. Pascal was out of date because of the introduction of Windows '95 and at school I learned object orientated programming using Eiffel, C++ and later on Java and a little bit of HTML. I also started to do more with computer graphics using 3D-Studio MAX and video editing with Ulead video studio and Adobe Premiere. I got my first internet connection at home which soon lead to ISDN and later on to cable.
After graduating from the H.T.S. I kept working with Java and HTML with JSP (Java-Server-Pages).
During this period I did nothing (neither with my PC nor anything else).
In the beginning of 2004, I have been learning JavaScript. My first JavaScript 'script' where the sprankles on this site (this little white stars popping up every where).
After building this site, I started programming Xplorers, my online version of that game with the hexes (A popular game in Holland and Germany) and have been busy with that ever since.
In the mean time, I created an online interactive family tree website with the data my grandfather left us when he died about various branches of our family.
Because people actually started playing Xplorers (at Xplorers.nl), I decided to create Toulouse, Match (SET!) and RoadBlock (barricade) aswell.