I wrote 6502 code 50+ years ago on BBC model b (and got paid for it!)
Fun times.
2 Likes
Ah yes, "minicomputer" I learned Pascal programming on a Prime 750
I think that people nowadays will be wondering why it was called a minicomputer 
1 Like
Pascal .... I used Borland Pascal and later Delphi.
I really like the integrated environment (RAD) interface that Delphi offered.
C and then C++ were popular along with Delphi but I suppose it was either the big names or the syntax of C that made it to today.
1 Like
Do you remember in the fall of 1975 when MOS Technology placed the Ad for a $25 microprocessor called the 6502? I was studying the Intel 8008 and 8080 but couldn't justify the $400 or so price. But $25 for this unknown 6502 uP including the software and hardware manuals so intrigued me that I sent off for it along with the $20 TIM chip and built me a "home computer". Wow was I into it.
Also Radio-Electronics magazine put out the plans for a monitor using a television. Those plans included printed circuit board artwork. I went full board and now I had a computer with a monitor but not permanent storage. Later I figured out how to offload data onto an ordinary Cassette Deck. Fun times innovating from scratch.
3 Likes
I think the success of C over Pascal was mainly the fact that you can directly talk to I/O and memory addresses without needing a I/O library or even a kernel. It also generated very small executables so everyone in the embedded world was delighted.
b.t.w. I had a intense training on C, 5 days a week for about 3/4 year on QNX.
With 16 people with Wyse75 terminals on one 80386 with 1 MB RAM and it was per person faster than a single user MS-DOS session.
QNX was the king of IPC and blisteringly fast. I still miss it 
2 Likes
You guys take me back decades ago ... in 1987 I wrote pascal code for a Brown Uni student to help her with her research. I got paid for it. I did not know I could write code and get paid.
3 Likes
Having the time of your life and getting paid for it is indeed an extremely surreal experience 
2 Likes
Since you mentioned QNX, note that it is still out there!
2 Likes
Yes indeed, It was taken over by Blackberry which used it in their Blackberry 10 models as OS. Also it is used in onboard equipment in planes and cars because it's small, fast, highly reliable and real-time.
(It was also used to control the SpaceShuttle's loading bay arm)
And one important fact: It is Canadian 
(no export ban on encryption like the USA has)
I have several "evaluation" disks for PC but there is not much you can do with that besides testing that it works.
I really think QNX had the potential to take over the world if it was not closed source, proprietary and so bloody expensive.
Wikipedia writes:
"To demonstrate the OS's capability and relatively small size, in the late 1990s QNX released a demo image that included the POSIX-compliant QNX 4 OS, a full graphical user interface, graphical text editor, TCP/IP networking, web browser and web server that all fit on a bootable 1.44 MB floppy disk for the 386 PC."
(Which is about ten years off the mark because I was already blown away by that floppy in 1987)
1 Like