I can’t remember the first time I got the coding bug, but I remember the sensation. It’s the kind of euphoria you get when you have some success creating something and you feel a pull to finish it, perfect it, expand it. Stay up all night. For example, subroutines (now called functions or methods) are after you’ve written a pretty tight bit of code that can be reused - you pull it out as a separate module and now you have a fundamental lego block. Then you can collect those in a library for broader sharing and you’ve got a box of legos that can build the Millennium Falcon. TensorFlow is an opensource ML library you can use to build Neural Nets. Can you believe that shit? I wrote about neural nets this week so they’re in my head hehe. Also, Straight Up.
"Straight Up" is such an incredible song! It might be top 5 for the entire 80s, IMO. So so good.
I'm very into the idea of taking modular chunks of code (or metaphorical code, like a jiu jitsu technique) and plugging that in somewhere else to use it again. It's something anyone who has coded kind of gets right away. Now it's the framework for the whole kit and kaboodle!
Oh yeah, "Straight Up" is the most iconic song of hers in my head. I just never realized it was called "Straight Up," but immediately recognized it upon listening now.
At the time, I had no clue what any English-speaking singers were saying, so all I recall are vibes. And this has VIBES!
I love it. Do you look back and realize that you learned some slang while listening to pop stars? Were there some words or phrases that you had all wrong from inferring like that?
My own language development, especially in adulthood, is a fun project, but it's a slow struggle bus too.
Nah, I can't say I recall specific things I personally misunderstood, but I do vividly remember in my later years arguing with my friends about Ace Of Base and the "All That She Wants" song.
My friends were sure that they sang "Oh Mosh You, Boss," whatever the hell that means, and no amount of explaining and logical arguments could convince them otherwise.
Thankfully, the Internet came along, and now everybody has one reliable, objective source of truth and never disagrees on anything anymore.
Yes! Paula had serious dance skills to boot, and she was comfortable performing in front of a live audience with high stakes. I'm sure that helped MTV seem like no big deal in the grand scheme!
Just rewatched the video - I forgot all the Arsenio Hall cameos! Did you watch him? My roommate loved him and we’d watch him every night. Paula was on a lot.
A bit. I was really into "In Living Color" when that first came out, and I remember that block of TV time being really good (for my 12 or 13 year old self, anyway). "Married With Children" was also an absolute classic at the time.
Decade and a half earlier our high school computer was pre-basic. Up arrow, down arrow, add subtract, etc. at least it saved the program on a magnetic card. The big project for computer science was to create a clock program, printing each minute, for 24 hours. Figure out how long a series of operations would take, taking into consideration the time printing consumed. Leaving it run slightly fast to allow for the hour print, which was longer. The worst part was, on several of my runs the power went out over night, ruining it. Finally got a good run, with the allowed error range. That computer hated one of my classmates: it would shock him every time he touched the keyboard. He had to punch in all of his programs using the eraser end of a pencil. I did take a BASIC class in college. My advisor tried to talk me out of it, saying “Pharmacists will never need to use a computer”. Right.
The closest I’ve ever come to coding was that early program where you’d do string entries that would tell a turtle what shapes to draw on the screen (Logo?).
Fave Paula Abdul song? Gotta be “Knocked Out.” Still sounds incredible!
"Knocked Out" was kind of a sleeper, from what I recall. Like, she released it first, then it flew under the radar while "Straight Up" kind of took over the universe. Then, everyone wanted to go back and figure out what "Knocked Out" was all about!
Back when my "computer" was a console connected to a regular TV, I got pretty good with the very basic language: BASIC.
I recall once spending an entire afternoon to meticulously draw a house using BASIC commands. Just as your experience, the basic principle was simple - place a dot by giving the program coordinates, then draw a line from that point to another point by specifying the length, repeat for whatever amount of lines you needed to draw.
In practice, it took a very long time to map the coordinates to the right points and to repeatedly "RUN" the commands to see your work-in-progress drawing and correct anything.
I recall being very proud of myself when I had a complete house drawn.
As for Paula Abdul, I remember being completely mesmerized by the music video where she danced with the cartoon cat. (I had to look it up now and yes, it's "Opposites Attract".)
I was just barely old enough to roll my eyes whenever that video came on, but I was absolutely a huge fan of her music anyway.
This sort of tedious drawing has a lot of value, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like you want to do that every time, but doing it once really helps you appreciate what we've got these days, right? I suspect you went much further than I did with coding, but I saw enough to understand the magic and the power inherent in there, even if it took all day to do something that you can do in seconds today.
I didn't really ever code beyond my BASIC days, apart from a very limited understanding of HTML and CSS basics (enough to tweak certain existing visuals and functions, but not enough to code an entire thing from scratch). But yeah, there's something to be said about this kind of painstaking, slow, deliberate learning by doing.
I should maybe think more about that HTML coding I did, too. I actually took a semester in college on this - but it included stuff beyond code, like incorporating visual elements (this was technically an art class). I certainly learned best by doing, though- by being motivated to start a website for my band, for instance. it was like trying to see the words alongside Paula's song, just because I thought it would be cool to see (and to see if I could do it, I think).
I can’t remember the first time I got the coding bug, but I remember the sensation. It’s the kind of euphoria you get when you have some success creating something and you feel a pull to finish it, perfect it, expand it. Stay up all night. For example, subroutines (now called functions or methods) are after you’ve written a pretty tight bit of code that can be reused - you pull it out as a separate module and now you have a fundamental lego block. Then you can collect those in a library for broader sharing and you’ve got a box of legos that can build the Millennium Falcon. TensorFlow is an opensource ML library you can use to build Neural Nets. Can you believe that shit? I wrote about neural nets this week so they’re in my head hehe. Also, Straight Up.
"Straight Up" is such an incredible song! It might be top 5 for the entire 80s, IMO. So so good.
I'm very into the idea of taking modular chunks of code (or metaphorical code, like a jiu jitsu technique) and plugging that in somewhere else to use it again. It's something anyone who has coded kind of gets right away. Now it's the framework for the whole kit and kaboodle!
Oh yeah, "Straight Up" is the most iconic song of hers in my head. I just never realized it was called "Straight Up," but immediately recognized it upon listening now.
At the time, I had no clue what any English-speaking singers were saying, so all I recall are vibes. And this has VIBES!
I love it. Do you look back and realize that you learned some slang while listening to pop stars? Were there some words or phrases that you had all wrong from inferring like that?
My own language development, especially in adulthood, is a fun project, but it's a slow struggle bus too.
Nah, I can't say I recall specific things I personally misunderstood, but I do vividly remember in my later years arguing with my friends about Ace Of Base and the "All That She Wants" song.
My friends were sure that they sang "Oh Mosh You, Boss," whatever the hell that means, and no amount of explaining and logical arguments could convince them otherwise.
Thankfully, the Internet came along, and now everybody has one reliable, objective source of truth and never disagrees on anything anymore.
Whew! Finally, we can just check whether things are true or not!
Paula was a ex-Laker girl which made her even more irresistible living in LA at the time of Magic Johnson. I can see that video in my head.
Here’s my take on neural nets https://newsletter.wirepine.com/p/cats-made-ai
Yes! Paula had serious dance skills to boot, and she was comfortable performing in front of a live audience with high stakes. I'm sure that helped MTV seem like no big deal in the grand scheme!
Just rewatched the video - I forgot all the Arsenio Hall cameos! Did you watch him? My roommate loved him and we’d watch him every night. Paula was on a lot.
A bit. I was really into "In Living Color" when that first came out, and I remember that block of TV time being really good (for my 12 or 13 year old self, anyway). "Married With Children" was also an absolute classic at the time.
Homey D. Clown! Arsenio was college for me and I loved my roommate - I guess I was about 20 - so that was good times.
Decade and a half earlier our high school computer was pre-basic. Up arrow, down arrow, add subtract, etc. at least it saved the program on a magnetic card. The big project for computer science was to create a clock program, printing each minute, for 24 hours. Figure out how long a series of operations would take, taking into consideration the time printing consumed. Leaving it run slightly fast to allow for the hour print, which was longer. The worst part was, on several of my runs the power went out over night, ruining it. Finally got a good run, with the allowed error range. That computer hated one of my classmates: it would shock him every time he touched the keyboard. He had to punch in all of his programs using the eraser end of a pencil. I did take a BASIC class in college. My advisor tried to talk me out of it, saying “Pharmacists will never need to use a computer”. Right.
Ha! That's great. Was this before the Altair came out (75)?
1974
Nice. My folks have told me stories of punch cards and the like. I love this history.
The closest I’ve ever come to coding was that early program where you’d do string entries that would tell a turtle what shapes to draw on the screen (Logo?).
Fave Paula Abdul song? Gotta be “Knocked Out.” Still sounds incredible!
"Knocked Out" was kind of a sleeper, from what I recall. Like, she released it first, then it flew under the radar while "Straight Up" kind of took over the universe. Then, everyone wanted to go back and figure out what "Knocked Out" was all about!
I actually do have an early coding story.
Back when my "computer" was a console connected to a regular TV, I got pretty good with the very basic language: BASIC.
I recall once spending an entire afternoon to meticulously draw a house using BASIC commands. Just as your experience, the basic principle was simple - place a dot by giving the program coordinates, then draw a line from that point to another point by specifying the length, repeat for whatever amount of lines you needed to draw.
In practice, it took a very long time to map the coordinates to the right points and to repeatedly "RUN" the commands to see your work-in-progress drawing and correct anything.
I recall being very proud of myself when I had a complete house drawn.
As for Paula Abdul, I remember being completely mesmerized by the music video where she danced with the cartoon cat. (I had to look it up now and yes, it's "Opposites Attract".)
I was just barely old enough to roll my eyes whenever that video came on, but I was absolutely a huge fan of her music anyway.
This sort of tedious drawing has a lot of value, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like you want to do that every time, but doing it once really helps you appreciate what we've got these days, right? I suspect you went much further than I did with coding, but I saw enough to understand the magic and the power inherent in there, even if it took all day to do something that you can do in seconds today.
I didn't really ever code beyond my BASIC days, apart from a very limited understanding of HTML and CSS basics (enough to tweak certain existing visuals and functions, but not enough to code an entire thing from scratch). But yeah, there's something to be said about this kind of painstaking, slow, deliberate learning by doing.
I should maybe think more about that HTML coding I did, too. I actually took a semester in college on this - but it included stuff beyond code, like incorporating visual elements (this was technically an art class). I certainly learned best by doing, though- by being motivated to start a website for my band, for instance. it was like trying to see the words alongside Paula's song, just because I thought it would be cool to see (and to see if I could do it, I think).