Me and Computers
Tue., July 30, 11:39 AM
Me and Computers – a Sort of History
It’s hard to believe a little old lady – not even a programmer – is attempting to tell you anything about the history of computers. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that we who remember something have a duty to tell about it. The fact of the matter is that I’ve been interested in computers since before they were a reality. After all, any kid who read science fiction understood the general idea and, although it may have been unusual for a girl to read sf, I was also interested in science and thought that I might even decide to be a scientist.
When I was in college, the university even had a computer. Of course, you had to be a graduate student in mathematics even to get into the room with it, and I had said a final goodbye to math with the advent of integral calculus. Interested, yes, but it was obvious I would never be a computer scientist.
During the years that I was home with babies, rather than out in the business world, I had occasion to read a computer program that was translated into English. I connected with it, I understood it. I would love to do that. Ha! When I went back to work, I was lucky to get into an office that had an electric typewriter – the height of technology.
But I knew even then that computers were the wave of the future, and I insisted that my son as well as my daughters learn how to type. “Not only will typing give you a marketable skill, but you will need it when you start using computers,” I told them. In their Talented and Gifted classes, all three were introduced to the use of BASIC. They all work in some part of the computer field today. It takes a lot of self-control for a mother not to say, “I told you so.”
Finally I went into a company that had a large main-frame computer. The primary function of the computer was to service the technology the company sold, but it had – among other things – a line editor. Oh, wow! I was in my glory. They even had a primitive word processor, called EMACS, which I could use in conjunction with the line editor. I became friendly with the computer operators – the people who would teach me. One of them built me a database, using that same line editor, so that I could track sales.
Just an aside: the people who know the most are the ones who are most willing to teach you. Those who don’t know much are very guarded about sharing what little they know. Computer people, in particular, are most generous about teaching. They answered my questions, they gave me tech manuals, they helped it all work.
Unfortunately, the company folded, not because of the technology but because of some management issues. I was out seeking another job – but this time I wanted a computer-related position, and I would bring some knowledge to it. Fortunately for me, by this time personal computers were becoming a normal part of ordinary offices, and they would be something new for me to learn.
The first version of Microsoft Word I encountered was Version 4.0. I think they got up to Version 7 before they started naming them by the year. There were no pull-down menus (they wouldn’t appear until Version 5.5), there was no Windows, and there was no mouse. All the screens were monochromatic, usually black and white. You got into the menu by pressing Escape, followed by some commands that seemed to have no relation to what you were doing. I learned that one by myself, with the help of a tutorial disk.
I didn’t have a computer with Windows (Version 3, that was) until several years later. I still run most of my commands by using the keyboard because I learned them before I ever had a mouse. I became an expert at Word, because I love to type, not because it was my job. I was the bookkeeper, and I ran a relational database, not just a bunch of stuff in a line editor. What a wonderful toy! Paradox was one of the first applications I learned that allowed me to look at the programming. Could I become a programmer? Well, maybe not. I’m still trying, though. Every time I learn a little more html, I feel I’ve progressed just that much more.
I’m not what you would call an expert at computers – just really good with a few applications. Because I often moved from office to office, I learned whatever was available, even the stuff I hated. Almost all of what I know I learned by myself; the newer applications are very easy. All you need is the time to go through them and try them out, find out how they’re different from older versions, look for the new features. What I don’t understand are the young people who can’t seem to do what I do. They’ve grown up with this technology, and it has gotten decidedly easier over the last fifteen years. So either they’re just not trying, or I really am smarter than I look – and all those people who think I’m too old to hire are truly stupid.
That and a couple of bucks will get me a cup of coffee.
