My Digital Life

In this blog post, I will walk you through the usage of digital computing and devices in my life since birth. It could be having some messages to the next generation based on my personal experiences.?

My First Interaction (1989 - 1995)

I was born in 1989 and brought up in a middle-class family. My dad is a retired bank officer. It’s difficult to exactly recollect my first interaction with a computer. If am right, I have seen floppy drives and printers in my dad’s bank. My dad’s colleagues give me floppy drives and ask to select one for offering a print-out of an elephant or a flower. I could correlate it with DOS and its PRINT command now.

My First Programming (1995-1999)

My first academic courses on computer science happened during these years. I can still remember the course curriculum about number systems, converting from one number system to another etc., There were also theories about programming languages like BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN and lab sessions on BASIC programming. I used to spend time in labs writing simple BASIC programs. Also, we used a program named LOGO which draws shapes based on basic geometric commands with a cursor or better known as turtle.

In 1999, my dad gifted a TV video game console. It had support for BASIC programming and I was able to write my lab programs at home. I wrote a addition program in BASIC and showed it to my dad. He suggested to improvise it for complex calculations like calculation of compound interest. He explained me how the bank uses calculator to find maturity amount when compounded yearly/quarterly/monthly for a fixed duration and rate of interest. I had to give up as I had no idea of looping at that time. My key takeaway was that my knowledge was very limited and my computer skills couldn’t even make a computer do what a calculator could do.

My First Computer Course (1999-2000)

The year 2000 was a turning point for me. There were widespread rumors about the millennium bug or the well-known Y2K bug. While there were discussions about it, my dad spoke about software used in banking and its impact. Having this discussion with my grandpa made him enroll me in a software course during my summer holidays. The course was about using Star Writer for creating documents. The instructor used a Windows 95 machine for our course. When he’s not around, I remember using MS Paint (the better variant of LOGO) for my famous hill painting(highlighted in the beginning).?

My Friend’s PC (2000 - 2002)

During this year, I had the privilege of working in a friend’s PC. It had a Celeron processor with DOS and support for floppy drives. I used it mainly for playing the famous Dave game. All I know is how to insert the floppy and launch the game. At times, DOS wouldn’t boot after I flip the PC due to the excitement of Jet pack. However, I was always lucky to resolve it with help my friend. Our city also had emerging gaming centers where we used to play games with better graphics running on Windows XP like Spiderman and Need For Speed.

My First PC (2002 - 2003)

During this year, I convinced my dad about the need of a PC for academic use. It had an Intel processor with 256 MB of RAM. It was one of the best and affordable configurations at that time. For any support with operating system or software, there was a dedicated person assigned by the dealer. I asked him to install both Windows 98 and Windows XP and used it as a dual boot machine. Some of the games I used to play in Windows 98 are Road Rash, Zeus, Roller Coaster Tycoon and Populous The Beginning. In Windows XP, I used to work in presentations with PowerPoint which was part of my school curriculum. I also subscribed to some of the PC magazines that give free CDs with software utilities and flash games.

My Second Computer Course (2003 - 2004)

My life as a programmer began when my dad enrolled me in a course named DAST (Diploma in Advanced Software Technology). This course focused on developing desktop applications using Visual Basic 6.0 with some connectivity to Oracle database. The course also had lab sessions following theory sessions. I still remember making everyone laugh by typing lecture notes in Oracle SQL Prompt.

The book given to me as part of this course is my biggest asset in programming. I installed Visual Studio 6.0 in my PC and started trying all programs in the book. Very soon, I was able to create my own apps and games with flashy user interfaces using ideas from the flash games.

My First Mobile (2004-2005)

During this year, my dad had an office mobile, the legendary NOKIA button phone. I used it for playing the good old snake game.? Apart from this, I continued to use my PC for academics and developed more desktop apps with Visual Basic 6.0. Few apps I could remember are the ones used for plotting graphs based on mathematical equations, a dancer app that allows you to animate blocks with key press and a mind reader app. I also created my own "Happy Birthday CD" and sent it to my school friend. It auto launched a HTML page with my recorded birthday message and had links to the apps developed by me, thanks to ActiveX support in IE6 at that time.

My First JAVA program (2004-2005)

During 2005, I had Java programming in my curriculum and I was introduced to the concept of Object-Oriented Programming. I use to overthink and submit my Java assignments using my own installer. The time I spend for assignments will be very less compared to the time I spend for submitting it. I was worried about portability not as a developer, but as an end user of computer. My concern is that the assignments I submit must be verifiable without any additional steps in any machine by anyone.

My First Internet Access (2005 - 2006)

I had access to Internet centers at this time. I used to surf once in a while using IE6 to download wallpapers/apps/games to floppy disks and see exam results. It’s during this time I created my first email account with Yahoo. Gmail wasn’t free to sign up and required an invite. I had an invite later and signed up for Gmail also.

My First Year at Computer Science Engineering (2006-2007)

It was an easier decision for me to become a computer science engineer with the skills I acquired so far. From academic perspective, the first-year curriculum had common subjects like mathematics, physics, chemistry and basic C programming. I continued to access Internet for academics, gaming and of course? for the best social networking site at that time “Orkut”.

My First J2ME phone (2007-2008)

During this year, my dad gifted me a J2ME based Sony Ericsson phone. With this, I had access to Google and was able to install other J2ME apps/games. It also had camera and Infrared (IR) for sharing data with friends. This phone also brought Internet to my home PC through USB Modem option.

My Second Year at Computer Science Engineering (2007-2008)

The engineering course had computer science related theories at this time. It was mainly about data structures and algorithms. I felt like we learn something quite different from what we do. However, for the purpose of academic records, I always study all the subjects thoroughly and complete the assignments on time. My dad also bought me a new PC with 64 MB RAM and 256 MB hard disk for working in C programs and assignments. I made it a triple booting machine with Windows 98, Windows XP and Puppy Linux. The funny part is I had attempted to install IDEs like Netbeans on this machine that fails after running for 2 days.

My Third Year at Computer Science Engineering (2008-2009)

My grandpa bought me an advanced laptop based on HP Pavilion during this year. It helped me to boost my skills, learn new programming techniques and improvise my skills for placements. We had a technical symposium where I created a clone of Microsoft XP in the name of Mysterious XP and created challenges for participants with a Visual Basic user interface. You can see a recording of this program below.

Mysterious XP

I registered for IBMs' The Great Mind Challenge competition to develop a J2EE based chess application. The dependencies and tools to be installed for this was very complicated. To learn more about J2EE, I enrolled in a course outside of college. Still I wasn't able to successfully complete the challenge.

My Final Year at Computer Science Engineering (2009-2010)

My biggest accomplishment during this year is completing my SCP 5.0 Java certification.

We had an optional elective in Artificial Intelligence. The professor gave us few? assignments to develop AI based programs for playing Tic-Tac-Toe and solving the 8 Queens Problem. As usual, I developed Visual Basic desktop apps with some reinforcement techniques for completion. I had disappointments with placements initially. Later, I managed to get few offers and decided to go with Oracle.

My First Year at Oracle (2010-2011)

I was part of Oracle Support where I used to work in automation apart from my regular work. I was always looking for opportunities to switch to development projects. It never happened and I decided to quit.

My First Android Smart Phone (2011-2012)

During this year, I purchased my first ever smart phone with Android OS. Switching to it was a great experience as an end user. The ability to install several apps gave more flexibility and made me an active user of Internet, Social Media and Messaging platforms.

Rest of my digital life aligns with the lifestyle of a software engineer in 2023! ??