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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 29, 2012 19:52:36 GMT
As I've grown up programming computers I always think that it's a much more trivial job than everyone else seems to. What is the general skill level of everyone here? Been meaning to ask for ages!  |
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Post by charliebrown on Nov 29, 2012 19:58:11 GMT
My answer is actually: I have a husband who is an IT specialist (system Administrator to be more precise)  |
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 29, 2012 20:10:00 GMT
In that case, your answer would be what you would put in his (or any other help's absence). |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2012 20:16:24 GMT
Your options in the poll are a bit "apples and oranges". I understand the electronics down to the simulated component level on the ICs, and I can repair without reinstalling, but I haven't programed since the days of card punch.
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Post by Moose on Nov 29, 2012 20:23:40 GMT
I get someone else to fix it when it breaks.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 29, 2012 20:31:01 GMT
Your options in the poll are a bit "apples and oranges". I understand the electronics down to the simulated component level on the ICs, and I can repair without reinstalling, but I haven't programed since the days of card punch. Shouldn't that be Apples and PCs?  I meant it as more of a level of understanding of how the thing works, with the programming options as being between using an application and telling the computer how to actually do things. The programming level being separated by an understanding of the principles of variables and operations (high) and how the machine actually allocates resources and stores things (low). It's hard to distinguish these things without making a lot of people just look at the poll and say "What?" to all the options. |
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 29, 2012 20:34:22 GMT
Punch cards!  |
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Post by Miisa on Nov 29, 2012 21:12:13 GMT
It depends completely on what has gone haywire. I can fix stuff like broken fans and other parts, but am not great at programming, though I have kept up the HTML and CSS bits. Mostly if it breaks it is broken.
At work I am an admin, but it is huge company and as such my team is just a first level of support, more customer service than IT people: hardware problems all go to the on-site teams and other things frequently get escalated unless it is something we come across frequently or is rather basic.
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Post by Karen on Nov 29, 2012 21:44:57 GMT
I'm not sure what you mean by 'break'. Do you mean physically, like a failed hard drive? I've never had anything go physically wrong on any computer I've owned, but if it did I'd have to take it to someone who knew what they were doing, since I'm clueless on hardware. But I'm very good at fixing basic software problems, viruses, etc. I have everything backed up on both an external HD and the cloud, so I could reinstall without much problem if necessary. I'm not quite sure where that places me in the poll. |
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Post by tangent on Nov 30, 2012 0:54:33 GMT
I guess I understand the electronics although not everything about the PC. After a lecture on logic gates once, I spent a completely sleepless night analyzing the internal structure of a logic gate called the JK Flip-Flop in my mind because I was too excited to go to sleep. I wouldn't call BASIC a high level language, I'd call it a basic mistake. |
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Post by Shake on Nov 30, 2012 1:14:59 GMT
I understand the electronics, can generally fix minor problems, and used to do programming in BASIC and Pascal. I've seen C/C+/C++ and assembly, and have taken a class on computer architecture, so I know something of things like registers, memory, adders, and things which make up a CPU. Back to the "fixing" options: I'd probably be better at hardware fixes, though as Karen said, I know how to fix basic software problems and can manage software installations, but not too much beyond that.
Also, from one of my classes, I know the most basic level of how some malicious code works. In fact, as part of a lab, we had to be able to overrun a buffer and have it run code which we put in. No, the class was not Hacking 101.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 30, 2012 9:01:48 GMT
Yes, apart from getting into the top option, I meant from the software side... the hardware keeps changing and is now so much more complicated than when I started that, although I still understand the principles of how it works, I could never fix it any more and would replace a broken part as I don't have a microelectronics lab and a huge amount of time at my disposal. Buffer overruns are a result of shoddy programmers!  |
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 30, 2012 9:14:39 GMT
I wouldn't call BASIC a high level language, I'd call it a basic mistake. I suppose it depends which BASIC (Beginners' All-Purpose Instruction Code) you learnt. I have done about 10 different ones, most of which I probably still remember in their entirety (that's so useful on a day-to-day basis). The benefits of BASIC, as the name implies was to begin programming and learn about the architectural and functional aspects of computing. Sadly, these days computers got so bogged down by the Intel/ Microsoft duopoly that they are only now just starting to re-diversify back into systems with their varying benefits and differences. As in biodiversity, one type of computer and operating system is a very bad thing to have, as Windows users have found to their cost with the millions of viruses now available for it. At the time I did it, there were only two real options for a home programming; BASIC and Assembler, which is like a choice between a moped and a formula-1 racing car! |
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Post by ceptimus on Nov 30, 2012 10:39:43 GMT
I've programmed from real machine code with memorised opcodes (6502) and with BASIC, FORTH, Pascal, most of the C-like languages and Python. Also PICs and PLCs (ladder diagram). I also know electronics, designing and building boards for computers and radios.
The original BASIC I did was at university on a mainframe - back then we had to type the program onto punched cards, submit them and then go back the next day for our printed output.
Not long after that, I got into programming Commodore PETs, at first in old fashioned BASIC with line numbers, and later in machine code, assembler and (briefly) Pascal.
I bought a Spectrum to learn Z80 coding, and then an Amiga to learn C. By that time, we were using PCs at work.
At the moment, I use a few specialist languages for dedicated work equipment (a mixture of PLC ladder logic, a derivative of C and a BASIC with add-ins). For Windows I mainly program in C#. On Linux boxes I like Python. For server-side Web-based stuff I use PHP. I use SQL server or MySQL for databases, both on web servers and for stand-alone PC applications.
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Post by Alvamiga on Nov 30, 2012 19:55:21 GMT
Ah, the good old days, when even programming languages had muscle-bound types on the cover!  |
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Post by charliebrown on Nov 30, 2012 20:12:23 GMT
MY GOODNESS!!!!
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Post by Karen on Nov 30, 2012 21:09:26 GMT
Ah, the gay '80s. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2012 22:46:10 GMT
I have a dad who has been working with computers for about 30 years, so whenever I have a problem, I call him.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Dec 1, 2012 18:15:29 GMT
I ask somebody else to help in general. Though usually once I see somebody fix a problem once I can then do it myself in future.
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Post by Moose on Dec 1, 2012 19:09:35 GMT
What on earth has that bloke got stufed down his shorts?
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Post by charliebrown on Dec 1, 2012 20:31:41 GMT
Eew! Now that you mentioned...
*eyes rolled
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