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BILL GATES’s new autobiography “Source Code: My Beginnings” (Knopf released on February 4), the pioneers and charitors of the computer wrote his formation, and he used him. I am writing the experience led by.
After reading the excerpts below, he discovered the basics in the eighth grade and discovered a method that introduced the elegance of computer code and strict requests. And don’t miss an interview with Lee Kawan’s Bill Gates at “CBS Sunday Morning” on February 2!
“Source code: My beginning” Bill Gates
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A few years later, in order to use the computer in 1968, I went beyond the leap of religion made by teachers and parents who got the terminal, and beyond luck strokes. I still surprise me what I had to do. People are now sharing computers via telephone lines. The completion of this miracle was the decision for two Professor Dart Mass to create a basic programming language. Just four years ago, the “Beginners’ General Penal Cycle General Code” were created to support students in non -technical fields to start computer programming. One of the attributes was to use commands such as GOTO, AND, and Run if it made sense for humans. Basic is something that I want to be absorbed in and want to come back.
On the wall next to the terminal, I tacked a half -seat paper with the most rudimentary direction, such as how to sign in by a teacher or a key to pressing when something did not work. In addition, he warned that entering “printing” without a statement number could cause control loss.
This page included a basic sample program that tells the computer how to add two numbers.
Ready. 。 。
10 input x, y
20 A = x+y
30 Print A
40 ends
It was probably the first computer program I have entered. The elegance of the chords in the four lines appealed to my order. The moment of the moment was like an electric impact. From there, I wrote my first computer program, that is, TIC-TAC-TOE games. By working on it, I was able to think for the first time to think about the most basic elements of the game rules. Immediately, I learned that in all situations where the computer could be generated, it was a stupid machine that had to convey all the steps to take. When I wrote an incorrect code, the computer could not guess or guess what I mean. I made many errors trying to understand it. When I finally made it correct, the sense of accomplishment was far more than the result. Tic-TAC-TOE games are very simple and even children learn it right away. However, I felt that getting a machine to do is a victory.
I loved the way the computer made me think. It was not completely forgiven in the face of mental sparse. It was logically consistent and demanded to pay attention. There is one misplaced comma or semicolon, and things do not work.
I remembered solving mathematical evidence. Programming does not require mathematics skills (beyond the basics), but requires a strict and logical approach of the same type to solve problems, smaller, easy -to -manage parts. In addition, there are various ways to create a function to work to solve algebra problems. It is an endless way to create a failed program that is more elegant and more than other programs. And I always failed. Only after being patient and forced to think about myself wisely, I was able to CAX a perfect program.
Another early program I wrote was a moon rander game. Problem: CRASH does not drop, and before the fuel runs out, touch the landing boat of the moon. Then I had to break the problem into the stairs. The game player had to move the Lander to the left and right, move it up and down, and how much fuel had to resolve the burning speed. It was also necessary to explain how to display the ship with dashes and asterisks on the screen.
Shortly after Lakeside set up a terminal, Stocklin wrote a program that contains infinite loops. In other words, it was continuously executed before someone finally stopped. I don’t know if he showed his face again in the room. It was a lesson for us.
In order to avoid the accumulation of rates, write down as many programs as possible with a pen and paper before extending your elbow to your place with a machine. If you use an offline machine to avoid time rates, enter the program on a 1 -inch paper tape. That was step 1. Next, dial the phone (rotary dial on the side of the terminal) and wait to confirm that the modem buzz is connected. After that, I feed the tape, and in Chug-Chug-Chug, the program is entered with 10 intense 10 characters per second. Finally, enter “Run”. Normally, there was a gag of other children waiting for a computer, so if my program did not work, I had to log off and find a place to sort the wrong place. Telete type.
This feedbuck loop was addictive. I was in a hurry to feel that it was getting better. Writing a program was from a simple combination for me. It is a logical thinking and the ability to focus on long -term intensive over time. Programming also excites the permanent needs that I had to prove myself.
The atmosphere of the computer room was a sound combination of (most) cooperation and competition. We were the mosh pit of teenage boys who were overwhelmed by each other. The gap of only a few years is not a magnificent plan for things, but when you are 13 years old, you are in an uncertain time until you are younger and growing rapidly. Kent and I were among the youngest children of the group. The expected advantage of some older children bothered us.
I am a eighth grader who is confident in the power of the brain, and I am convinced that my strength means that older people can do anything. I decided not to get anyone. Kent also hated agreeing with someone else. Maybe more than me.
A second -year student named Paul Allen picked up it immediately, and he exploited it beautifully. “Bill, you think you’re very smart, you understand this.” These are the first part of me a few years later by a person who co -operates Microsoft.
Excerpted from “Source Code: My Beginning” by Bill Gates. Copyright © 2025 by Bill Gates. Excerpted by the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, which is a section of Penguin Random House LLC. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. Part of this excerpt cannot be reproduced or reproduced from the publisher without permission in writing.
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