can anyone write software on current computers?

[Bob Haller]

A buddy Bill writes actual software on a old tandy 1000 to do things like figure antenna lengths and gear ratios. His family is getting DSL access and I suggested he upgrade his setup to one that can access the net too.

He thought current computers can ONLY use preexisting sofdtware and he would be unable to continue his software writing.

Whats the scoop on this. I will print this thread and give it to him.

[Orcatek]

Yes he can write his own software. He would need to but a programming language.

I use the Microsoft tools and Marcomedia tools.

If he wants to do web programming, he can do alot without buying any extra software - just takes a little more effort.

There are hundreds of choices as to which tools to use.

Heck, MS Excel comes with programming capabilities out of the box. I've seen very complex applications built this way.

[firephoto]

Your buddy Bill sounds like he might enjoy linux on a newer computer. It can have that custom user built feel to it if you want, or ease of use if that's what you like. Mandrake Linux would be a good place to start and if he sees some of the guts of the system he likes then maybe a move over to Gentoo would be to his likings.

http://www.mandrakesoft.com
http://www.gentoo.org
http://www.sourceforge.net Open source software for most all platforms, all free. over 60,000 projects there I think

Lots of different programing languages availible for linux but I can't say much about them because I haven't wrote anything more complicated than a few two or so line scripts. ;)

If he's not on a tight budget a new Mac G5 might be an excellent choice. Ultimate ease of use plus unix roots with OSX (Panther released today btw). Lots of development apps for the Mac platform too. 10% off too tonight at Apple Stores I hear. ;)
http://www.apple.com/
http://www.apple.com/powermac/

[RichW]

The object-oriented event-driven programming done today is quite different than the "top-down" sequential programming of the past. Logic is logic in just about any programming environment, but one must develop a sense of parallelism and of greater structural organization to write effective software for GUI-based systems.