First Post

Programming can be fun, but it requires an ordered and creative mind...and a great deal of patience. I began programming in CoBOL 42 years ago, two years before I ever actually saw a computer. I found a teach yourself "programmed instruction" book in the local library during summer vacation between my junior and senior year of high school. It looked like fun, so I checked it out and . . . and, I've been programming ever since.

My first experiences with computers was at the University of Florida where I spent many a long hour writing, debugging, and rewriting programs. I remember the keypunch machines with a mixture of fondness and loathing. At UofF I took courses in CoBOL and FORTRAN, even though my major had nothing to do with computers. I continued to "tinker" with computers and programming when I transferred to the University of West Florida, but my major in Social Studies lead to middle-school teaching, not programming.

During my time as a middle-school teacher I did nothing with computers, nor programming. It was the early 70's and computers were still large expensive machines. The county office had a mainframe, but there were no computers out in the schools. The 12 and 13 year old kids eventually wore me out and I left for the quieter halls of academia.

Back in college I got an MEd, an MBA, neither of which I ever really used for anything, and then a degree in Computer Science. I had, again, begun to "tinker" with programming while getting the two masters degrees, teaching myself BASIC, Pascal, C and assembler. I finally decided that I liked computer programming, so why wasn't I actually studying computer programming, so I finally got my degree in CS.

The job I got coming out of college that last time was with Radio Shack. I was hired to teach teachers how to use Radio Shack programs on Radio Shack hardware. I didn't really want to go back to teaching, but once I started I discovered I like to teach. I really like to teach. I just don't want to teach in the public schools. :)

In 1986, I was able to secure a job as an instructor at Pensacola Junior College. I was assigned to a branch campus where I taught anything that had a computer involved with it...and several courses that did not. I'm still at PJC, though now the main campus, and teaching mostly programming language courses. One day, I'll retire from here and won't teach programming, but I'm pretty sure I'll still be programming for many years to come.