I used to be very active with small electronic computing devices produced by Parallax. One was the “Basic Stamp”. A small microcomputer that was programmed with “micro-BASIC” programming language.
These computers are not what we now call “personal computers” but rather hardware control computers. I.E. Control system or embedded application computers. Their control application use is only limited by human imagination. But these computers are used to control hardware. Not send emails in social media. But maybe they could…
I have spent almost a lifetime creating device control systems. Also that same lifetime using them.
It easy to buy controllers you need off the shelf as far as a control system. But I (use to) find it a very rewarding hobby to design and program my own control systems, just because I can. I lost that, or put it on hold, decades ago.
Now nearing age 80, I am wondering if I still have the knack.
I have a lot of the Parallax computer hardware. Several (+) Raspberry Pi (Rpi) computers. Even an Arduino or two. They are suitable for hardware control and I have an add-on board (somewhere) for doing that with the Rpi. Far more.
So I could “jump back” into such activity if I get a real desire. For now it is just rambling around in my head as an interesting diversion to my present activities.
The problem for me is I have much more “like-to-dos” than I have time and energy. Ha! Also I am perhaps a bit more lazy than I once was.
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and even years are flying past faster than EVER! Has time increased speed? Or am I just operating slower? Don’t answer that!
For now its a thought process. I remember writing “machine language” CODE to make the 8 front panel LED’s (output port) on my IMSAI 8080 blink in different sequence. I showed my mom what my new computer could do. She replied, “That’s nice, but what else will a computer ever be good for…” Little did she know, or live to see.
My little secret was, “Whatever I can tell it to do…”
Programmable control.
The huge step from discrete digital hardware components (gates) to something called “software”.
Now you know from where that “soft” name was derived.
Excuse me as I continue to reminisce …