icon: FasCalendarDay
title: 1997-2000 - Formative Coding Years
The journey began in 1997 at the age of 11, where the world of computing unfolded before me. The Amstrad PCW, operating on CP/M, introduced me to Mallard BASIC, sparking my inaugural foray into programming. Crafting my first program—calculating and displaying the average of a list of integers—marked the inception of a lifelong passion.
The subsequent years saw a significant expansion of skills. In 1998, the introduction of MS-DOS 6.22 and GW Basic on a XT 8086 with a monochromatic display marked a pivotal shift. Quick Basic became the canvas for three transformative projects—replicating Carmen Sandiego, managing student databases, and developing a warehouse inventory system—all in text mode.
Venturing into the realm of CP/M-80, SuperCalc became a vital tool for spreadsheet mastery. Simultaneously, explorations into WordStar, Supercalc, and dBase broadened the skill set. Learning the intricacies of these tools laid the foundation for future encounters with word processing, spreadsheets, and database management.