>>>>>>VFP --my favorite STILL for data handling but missing the stuff of C#.net and delphi
>>>>>>C# -- most likely will be my language of choice for the future - i spend about 70% of my time with it now
>>>>>>Delphi -- best for communications programming a couple of years ago
>>>>>>Ada -- i had to write a lot of military/government apps using this so I got "comfortable" with it
>>>>>>C++ --if I were writing games
>>>>>>Assembler -- I used this way way back in the old days when I programmed keyboards and other medical devices
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I think you mean "Assembly" - assembler was the tool, assembly the language <s>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Assembly...assembler...let's call the whole thing off.
>>>>>
>>>>>The terms were used interchangeably, even if one wasn't strictly accurate.
>>>>
>>>>Also assemblers are processor specific - no-one has yet specified *which* assembler was their favourite :-}
>>>>
>>>>FWIW I remember liking Forth. Can't remember what I did with it (or how) - just that I liked it simply because it was different :-{
>>>
>>>It brings back memories http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)
>>
>>The Forth article references RPN... I did my first programming on an HP-29C. You used to be able to get HP T-shirts that read [Enter] > [=].
>
>
>I did my first rpn programming to print invoices in adobe postscript
>We received the invoices in a text file. Then add the header + logo + lines and send that to a ps printer
>
>As to calculators, I had a very nice one back in 1989 http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/personalsystems/0044/0044threeqtr.html
>
>It had 64 k and I spent hours - days - weekends making programs in rpn. It broke a couple of years ago - much to my regret
>
>ps: I don't find your hp-29C in the museum http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/chronological/index.html
>
>My memory goes back to the hp-45. The teacher had one

http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp29.htm . Bought it for C$265 in September 1978, if memory serves. Had to have some sort of programmable device for a mandatory numeric methods course - it was a choice of buying a programmable calculator, or buying time on MTS on the campus IBM 360 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Terminal_System ).

Mine still works fine, but I don't use it often. You can't get replacement NiCd battery packs ( 2x AA ) for them anymore, so I took apart a failed pack and started using various current AAs in it instead. Alkalines don't work ( 1.5v x 2 = 3.0v ) is too much voltage, calculator gets flaky, but rechargeable NiMH is basically the same as NiCd ( 2x 1.2v = 2.4v ) so they work fine.