Packetfury.net

"Hello World!" is a simple computer program, typically the simplest possible, that prints "Hello World!" to a display device. It is often used as a way of learning a computer language, and can also be used on embedded systems as a way of verifying that a platform works. In some cases, the text can be replaced by other output possibilities; a flashing LED light or a few beeps. On the hx4700, "Hello World!" on the screen meant that we had a working kernel, and that the essential code was in place, allowing us to program the machine, and have a means of reading the output. From here, things were looking good! I've also used it extensively when using new frameworks or programming languages. When "Hello World!" was printed on the screen, it was time to forget about research, and do some development.

I can't remember the amount of programming languages I've used, or at least tried to play about with. I started like most geeks, by fiddling about with BASIC. My first attempts were on an Apple IIe, then on the ZX80/ZX81 family. From there, I made a "strange" choice for some, I bought a copy of DevPac, an IDE for 680x0 assembly development. Assembly on the 68k was fun (especially when compared to x86 assembly), but I still went for AMOS. There is a game, there, somewhere on Internet, signed by me. If anyone finds a copy of Kitten Curse, let me know. If was a really basic game, made for the Amiga, and released into Public Domain. Somewhere around 1992. Anyway.

When I arrived on the x86 platform, I tried assembly language, but the x86 is a nightmare, or more precisely, I wasn't used to the x86 platform and the lack of an IDE that looked like DevPac. I had fun with BASIC shipped with MS-DOS. They day Windows 95 came out, I switched to Linux. I had played around with it before, but that was the day I went Linux full-time. In march 1999, GNOME was released, and I started with C, using the GTK toolkit. From there, C++ was a logical step, but I've played about with a few others. Python, Java and Objective C to name a few. Today I'm mainly using Java, but I'll switch to C and Python as soon as I can. I have an application to maintain in C, and that is my joy at work right now.

Today I decided to start a little collection of "Hello World!"s, in different languages, using different toolkits. A quick reminder of my roots, and a little bit of fun. If you have any, don't hesitate to send me an email, or to contact me!