Almost a Lifetime of Computer Programming (aka Software Development) by James Pate Williams, Jr.

As I have mentioned before on this website (blog), I taught myself BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) in the summer of 1978. I went on to undergraduate college courses in BASIC, FORTRAN (Formula Translator) IV, Intel 8085 or 8086 assembly and machine language programming, C, COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language kudos to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper), and Pascal. In between my two undergraduate careers, I taught myself Amiga BASIC, Modula-2, Motorola 68000 macro-assembly language, and Pecan Pascal on my ever-faithful 1988 Commodore Amiga 2000. After my second graduation from LaGrange College, I taught myself C++ in 1996 and client/server Internet programming in C also in 1996. As a graduate student at Auburn University during my tenure as a student, I had formal courses in Java, Common LISP, and Scheme in 1999 and Palm Operating System C. later in my studies. In the late-2000s I taught myself C#.

Procedural Languages: C, COBOL, FORTRAN IV, Pascal

Functional Languages: Common LISP (List Processor) and Scheme

In between procedural and object-oriented languages: Modula-2

Object-Oriented Languages: C++, Common LISP, and Java

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Author: jamespatewilliamsjr

My whole legal name is James Pate Williams, Jr. I was born in LaGrange, Georgia approximately 70 years ago. I barely graduated from LaGrange High School with low marks in June 1971. Later in June 1979, I graduated from LaGrange College with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry with a little over a 3 out 4 Grade Point Average (GPA). In the Spring Quarter of 1978, I taught myself how to program a Texas Instruments desktop programmable calculator and in the Summer Quarter of 1978 I taught myself Dayton BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) on LaGrange College's Data General Eclipse minicomputer. I took courses in BASIC in the Fall Quarter of 1978 and FORTRAN IV (Formula Translator IV) in the Winter Quarter of 1979. Professor Kenneth Cooper, a genius poly-scientist taught me a course in the Intel 8085 microprocessor architecture and assembly and machine language. We would hand assemble our programs and insert the resulting machine code into our crude wooden box computer which was designed and built by Professor Cooper. From 1990 to 1994 I earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from LaGrange College. I had a 4 out of 4 GPA in the period 1990 to 1994. I took courses in C, COBOL, and Pascal during my BS work. After graduating from LaGrange College a second time in May 1994, I taught myself C++. In December 1995, I started using the Internet and taught myself client-server programming. I created a website in 1997 which had C and C# implementations of algorithms from the "Handbook of Applied Cryptography" by Alfred J. Menezes, et. al., and some other cryptography and number theory textbooks and treatises.

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