deadly_sniper22 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Next year i'll be entering Grade 10 and my school offers a Computer: Information and Science class. I've already applied to it, but if its not in demand they won't have it. I was wondering though, where did everyone here in the computers forum learn so much about computers. Was it just a trial and error thing? did you go to college/University etc. DS22 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NYR_32 6 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Ummm....right here mostly LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dannik 43 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I started programming CBM PET's in 1981, when I was seven. Then I got my first personal computer, the Commodore C64 when I was ten or eleven. By the time I hit High School's Computer Studies course, I literally knew more about the workings of that machine than the teacher did. Unfortunately, my first experience in coding on the x86 platform was in Turing, in 1988. Anyone remember the Turing language? I doubt it. Now, I've forgotten 90% of what I used to know. I'm all trial and error now, along with careful research. I'll never be a programmer, but I'm regularly a hacker (in the traditional non-Hollywood sense). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
standalone 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I wanted to get a computer and a lot of people I knew said I should build my own instead of buying a stock one.So I bought the parts and had some friends walk me thru building it and I have been upgrading it ever since, I am glad I didn't buy one from the store Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 After buying my first PC (from Gateway) and installing stuff like a HD and memory and a NIC, I figured I could build one on my own since I couldn't install an AGP card in that PC. I basically started building PCs because of GR. I learned a few things along the way and I haven't fried any components since I first started (I had grounded out the mobo with the standoffs yet didn't fry it). I read some hardware magazines as much as I can and check out hardware review sites. I try my hand at graphic design and video creation (from game replays or using FRAPS). My self learned knowledge resulted in the build your own guide I wrote that is in the pinned topic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 College is where I am learning the most about computers. But the knowledge I have about how they work is just because I have picked up stuff here and there and from taking off to cover to see what is what. My stupid college is probably going to want me to take a basic computer class which is BS because I probably know more than the people who have taken that course. It is just a scheme to get more money out of me. Colleges offer a wide variety of courses from programming to the inner workings of the computer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I've learned about computers just by fooling aroung with them... and I've yet to destroy one. Last year I took a computer refurbishing class at my school, and didn't learn much. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I've learned through the years fiddling around with computers trying to make my games look better and run faster! I am fortunate to know a friend who owns a small computer store, and he taught me how to build my own systems. After awhile, word got around that I knew a little about computers and I've become tech support/system builder for friends/community organizations here. Some people get frustrated being always asked to fix their friend's computers, but I don't mind as I use it as a learning experience. I'm also interested in following the news about the business side of the computer industry ... it's better than watching soap operas Quote Link to post Share on other sites
finster 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I think it started with gaming, on the Atari 2600 and then Commodore C64. (some of those games I remember pretty well, like Gunship and this one called Overlord) Commodore sent along a neat little book with a robot on the cover that have a few basic programs included. After getting my own PC, I wanted to customize windows and upgrade, so I had to learn how to get under the hood, with just about anything except programming. Next I decided to build my own, so I knew everything about all the parts inside. Since my wife has a laptop, I learned about home networking. Shortly I'll be upgrading or building a new one for GR2. And so it goes... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firefly2442 0 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Self taught programming and learning on my own how to setup apache and a website... that was a lot of fun. Read lots of new items (www.slashdot.org). Computer course in high school and college. Computer club in high school. Go for the computer course if you can get in. Or start a club on your own. Good luck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chef-Scott 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 1981 with a VIC-20. and eventually got a tape drive for it!! That VIC-20 was a speed demon at 1.0227 Mhz! Learned how to "PEEK" and "POKE" and all things that were the wonderous BASIC language, and I taught myself the inner workings of programming in machine language. I also got an expansion board for the VIC-20 that gave it a GIGANTIC 32 KB of memory in with the addition of two 16 KB cards. I was a die hard Commodore user. First the VIC-20, then a C-64 with a 1541 5.25 inch floppy drive and a pen plotter. Next was a 300 baud acoustic modem...Holy Moley Batman!!! Then a 1581, Amiga 2000, Epson Apex 8088, Packard-Bell 386x (with FPU!!), Maintosh Quadra 700, PowerComputing PowerBase 240 Apple Clone (with a 350 Mhz PowerLogix daughter card), and many other flavors of homebuilt Windows and Linux based PC's. The rest is history! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dan 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Computer: Information and Science class. Ah, but beware my young friend, im doing a course i guess is the same, and you dont do alot of the crap that goes on here. What most of these guys talk about is basic software and hardware troubleshooting and advice, and (I dont mean to offend) this is very low level. What you learn in an information systems or sciences course, is some things like the above to give you a base knowledge. then you leap into Algorithms!! And how fun they are. You learn how a computer "thinks", and then how to make it work. Algorithms are the framework you use to construct logical processes, and they are then converted to code, and then a computer can do it. Its a bit hard when you start, and can be very boring, but its worth sticking to it. You also learn about communications between computers aswell as some programming language. Again, no offence guys. My advice? Stick with it, good for general knowledge, lotsa $$ to be made if ya get the right degree. If ya need anyhelp dnt hesitate to ask, there is a fair chance we will cover the exact same things!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 I doubt a high school would be teaching any programming language. The class sounds more like how the computer works and maybe a little of the terminology and stuff like that. It will probably go through basic Windows task and programs like excel and all that good stuff. I can only offer you this one piece of advice. If you go to college and have to take a discreet math class make sure you have taken some high level math before you take it. I am taking a discreet math class right now and some of the stuff can blow your mind . But if you sit down and think about it it makes sense. But you will probably only have to worry about that if you are a computer science major probably. I just wish my Java class would move a little faster. I would like to get into some higher level stuff but I will have to wait for the second part of the class. My college starts us out with Java which is an easy language to learn if can understand the logic used to do stuff. I am sure you could find stuff out on the net if you aren't able to take that course. There is probably a computers for dummies book out or something. No offense meant by that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dan 0 Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 I doubt a high school would be teaching any programming language. The class sounds more like how the computer works and maybe a little of the terminology and stuff like that. It will probably go through basic Windows task and programs like excel and all that good stuff. Oh en kontre!! (yes, i cant speak french at all) at DeadlySniper level you do learn more off the basics (what you mentioned), but at my level (Yr12, final year of High School). You do basic languages and programming to get a basic knowledge for when you go to university!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MarkVanDamme 0 Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 I studied it professionally for 5 years nearly, and had two jobs in the industry.......... then I jacked it in and ended up enlisting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
supasniper 0 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 i'm at college (not university) doing a computer course, it covers most things at least partially but sadly by far most of has been programming (C++, VB and now some AI) and well i suck at programming, we do other things like what makes puter's tick like binary and the workings of a cpu also stuff like a taster for the first level CISCO qualification and Comms Tech (me teacher for that is from Iraq and he had to take a few weeks off just after the war to go look for his brother's body who was arrested a few years ago and was never seen again) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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