I first started programming in 1981 on a Sinclair ZX81 with 16 kb ram pack, I had to drive to a nearby town to get it as it had sold out in my hometown as soon as it was released. My Dad was interested too, and I remember sitting up until 2am with him, typing in programs from Magazines even though we both had to work the next day.
Then I went through the usual route and upgraded to a ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, BBC Micro and then an Atari ST on which I wrote my first commercial app which was a Midi Sysex manager written in C and eventually bought a 286 PC.
I was working in Accounting at the time, but managed to land a job at the same company programming for an Operating system call PICK OS using it's programming language - PICK Basic. It was there I was exposed to a code writing package called Creator, which used templates and code hooks, not dissimilar to the way B4x / Java implements callbacks.
When I was looking for a way to program for Android I was fortunate enough to find B4a with a Google search. I found B4a to be very intuitive and without the complexity of Java on Eclipse or Netbeans IDE. My first app written with B4a was again a Music related Chordpad, which I had previously attempted in Python on the PC. Displaying chord charts for musicians.
I did dabble with B4i when it first came out, but am not a big fan of the Apple platform.
Programming for me is mainly a hobby, I have been a professional musician for the last 20 years, which is slowly winding down, mainly due to the availability of gigs and the excessive amount of travelling required to get them.
I have a few commercial apps written for clients that I still maintain when necessary and has supplemented my income from music over the years. But the bulk of my effort is just for fun, to see what can be done.
The main thing I have learnt while using B4x apart from how event driven environments work, is that with the right tools and a developer as responsive and open as Erel, and a helpful and friendly forum we have a powerful platform that can overcome most obstacles and get things done.
In the future, when I have the time, I hope to do more with IOT, Raspberry Pi and Arduino, again just out of interest. And perhaps write a midi sequencer in B4j, the available commercial offerings are similar to Eclipse or Netbeans in that they are extremely complex as they try to be all things to all people at the expense of simplicity and usability, You need to be immersed in them all the time to remember what can be done and where all of the functions are.
Then I went through the usual route and upgraded to a ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, BBC Micro and then an Atari ST on which I wrote my first commercial app which was a Midi Sysex manager written in C and eventually bought a 286 PC.
I was working in Accounting at the time, but managed to land a job at the same company programming for an Operating system call PICK OS using it's programming language - PICK Basic. It was there I was exposed to a code writing package called Creator, which used templates and code hooks, not dissimilar to the way B4x / Java implements callbacks.
When I was looking for a way to program for Android I was fortunate enough to find B4a with a Google search. I found B4a to be very intuitive and without the complexity of Java on Eclipse or Netbeans IDE. My first app written with B4a was again a Music related Chordpad, which I had previously attempted in Python on the PC. Displaying chord charts for musicians.
I did dabble with B4i when it first came out, but am not a big fan of the Apple platform.
Programming for me is mainly a hobby, I have been a professional musician for the last 20 years, which is slowly winding down, mainly due to the availability of gigs and the excessive amount of travelling required to get them.
I have a few commercial apps written for clients that I still maintain when necessary and has supplemented my income from music over the years. But the bulk of my effort is just for fun, to see what can be done.
The main thing I have learnt while using B4x apart from how event driven environments work, is that with the right tools and a developer as responsive and open as Erel, and a helpful and friendly forum we have a powerful platform that can overcome most obstacles and get things done.
In the future, when I have the time, I hope to do more with IOT, Raspberry Pi and Arduino, again just out of interest. And perhaps write a midi sequencer in B4j, the available commercial offerings are similar to Eclipse or Netbeans in that they are extremely complex as they try to be all things to all people at the expense of simplicity and usability, You need to be immersed in them all the time to remember what can be done and where all of the functions are.
