A Blast from the Graphic Calculator Past
Maybe this is waxing a little too nostalgic, but I found my old TI-85 graphing calculator from high school. I don't think I've used it since 1998! And after all these years the little watch battery backup still worked! I could see all of my old programs, from WAAAY before I was a good programmer. It was one of those very wistful moments, to look back on where I had been.
Unfortunately, the program I wanted to look at the most was a Poker program I had written in high school, which I managed to do without understanding anything about programming. I didn't know how to write functions, or sort the cards, or any of that. But this little thing was a ball of determination (and spaghetti code) that nonetheless could play single-player 5 card poker.
Sadly, this program I had lost years ago, and in its place, the POKER program was just a re-implementation of the title screen followed by comments to the tune of "dedicated to an awesome Poker program". I had forgotten I had made a tribute program, to be honest. :)
The rest of the programs were all school-related, except for a very early attempt to write a TI-85 game. That programming language, TI-BASIC I think, sadly just got slower and slower the longer it runs. So the game kind of just runs and eventually crashes. Still some of the programs, like a scrolling marquee program for a user-input string, were really neat, and I had completely forgotten about them. I was like huh, I wrote this? And it works? Wow!
It also reminds me of how badly I was looking for something else to do in high school, besides just school work, and all of the other emotions involved with life back then. I wonder if it's weird finding an old graphing calculator and getting the feels. For me, at least, there's a lot of memories tied to that hunk of plastic!
Unfortunately, the program I wanted to look at the most was a Poker program I had written in high school, which I managed to do without understanding anything about programming. I didn't know how to write functions, or sort the cards, or any of that. But this little thing was a ball of determination (and spaghetti code) that nonetheless could play single-player 5 card poker.
Sadly, this program I had lost years ago, and in its place, the POKER program was just a re-implementation of the title screen followed by comments to the tune of "dedicated to an awesome Poker program". I had forgotten I had made a tribute program, to be honest. :)
The rest of the programs were all school-related, except for a very early attempt to write a TI-85 game. That programming language, TI-BASIC I think, sadly just got slower and slower the longer it runs. So the game kind of just runs and eventually crashes. Still some of the programs, like a scrolling marquee program for a user-input string, were really neat, and I had completely forgotten about them. I was like huh, I wrote this? And it works? Wow!
It also reminds me of how badly I was looking for something else to do in high school, besides just school work, and all of the other emotions involved with life back then. I wonder if it's weird finding an old graphing calculator and getting the feels. For me, at least, there's a lot of memories tied to that hunk of plastic!