Consulting Experience
In some ways, you might be right to consider me an old dinosaur who first learned to program FORTRAN and ALGOL on punch cards, but that would be overlooking my ability and willingness to search out, learn, and adopt the newest, most efficient tools I can find for a given project.
On this page, I'll list many, but not all, of the computers and software I've learned and used over the last three decades. You've probably never heard of some of these, but they were popular in their day. Now that I'm not actively consulting, I'm spending much less time keeping up with current developments, although I've never been out of touch completely. Even when I wasn't working for other folks, I was developing web sites and keeping up to date -- mostly -- with the developments at Apple.
But, I haven't been keeping up with all I normally follow when I'm actively consulting. With the addition of the BSD Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X, I'm also expanding the tools I normally consider to include tools that have been developed for Unix systems -- the workhorses that power the Internet.
In no particular order, here are some of the systems, languages, and applications I've used enough to call myself proficient or expert. I won't list the many others I've used for brief periods and never really learned in-depth. And no, I don't pad my resumé. If it's on here, I am, or was at one time, proficient with it.
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Hardware & Software
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Apple Computer
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System - Mac 128, 512, 512KE, Plus, SE, SE/30, Classic, Mac II, IIci, IIsi, IIfx, Quadra, Performa, PowerMac, iMac, G4
Languages - Microsoft BASIC, MacPascal, TML Pascal, 68000 Assembler, ZBASIC, Turbo Pascal, HyperTalk, "AppleScript", MPW Pascal, Prototyper 2, Think Pascal, QuickBASIC, dBASE, FoxPro, MacPerl, and I have a working knowledge of UserLand's UserTalk, the scripting language in Frontier and Radio UserLand.
Applications - Multiplan; MacWrite and MacWrite II; Microsoft Word 3, 4, & 5; MacProject; MacChart; MS-File; Omnis 2; Excel 2, 3, and 5; PageMaker 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6; OverVue; Reflex; ReadySetGo! 1, 2 & 3; CricketDraw; MacPaint and MacPaint II; MacDraw and MacDraw II; FullPaint; SuperPaint; Turbo Maccountant 2; MacMoney; Home Accountant; VideoWorks; Acta; MORE; Illustrator 88 & Illustrator 3; HyperCard 1 and 2; FileMaker II, FileMaker Pro 3 and 4; MapMaker 4; PowerPoint; TimeSlips; Freehand; Microsoft FoxPro 2.5 & 2.6; 4D First; QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro; MacInTax; ClarisWorks 1, 2, 3 & 4; PhotoShop 3; "Frontier 5"; Radio UserLand 7.0; CorelDRAW 6.
Miscellaneous - I programmed several interfaces for third party Apple II educational products in assembler.
Note - It's interesting to note that I can purchase an iMac now for a fraction of the cost of any of the other computer systems I've ever worked on and it is a far more capable computer. Amazing.
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IBM
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System - 30XX
Operating System - MVS
Languages - COBOL, FORTRAN
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Personal Computer,
PS/2,
and a variety
of MS-DOS and
Windows clones
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Operating System - PC-DOS 1.1, 2.1; MS-DOS 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 5.0, 6.0, 6.2; Windows 2.11, 3.0, 3.11; BSD Unix
Languages - BASICA; TurboPascal 4, 5 & 6; Macro Assembler; Turbo Prolog; Turbo BASIC; QuickBASIC 4.0 & 4.5; Turbo Assembler & Turbo Debugger; Quick Pascal; Visual BASIC; QBasic; dBASE; FoxPro's version of dBASE; Perl 4 & 5; and a working knowledge of Microsoft's VBA
Applications - Multiplan; WordStar; Lotus 1-2-3; VolksWriter and VolksWriter 3; SuperCalc 2 & 3; MultiMate; AutoCAD; dBASE II & III Plus; PC-Write; PC-File; WordPerfect 4.2, 5.0, 5.1 & 6.0; Microsoft Word 3, 4 & 5; Microsoft Works 1 & 2; Word for Windows 1.0, 1.1 & 2.0; Microsoft Excel 3.0 & 4.0; PowerPoint 3.0; Q&A; Quattro 2 & 3; CorrelDRAW 2, 3, 4 & 6; Alpha Four 2; PageMaker 4.0 and 5.0; Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows; Harvard Graphics for Windows; PackRat 5; Perform Pro Plus; WinFax Pro 3.0; ProComm Plus for Windows; Microsoft Publisher 2.0, and many others with which I have a working knowledge.
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Digital Equipment Corp.
(DEC)
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System - PDP-11/34, 11/70, VAX
Operating System - RSTS/E, RSX-11M, RT-11, and VMS
Languages - BASIC-PLUS, FORTRAN, COBOL, DIBOL
Applications - DECWORD, WORD-11, accounting, mailing list management, subscription management, data entry (key-to-disk and key-to-tape), and other custom programs
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Hewlett-Packard Corp.
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System - HP-3000 Series 44
Operating System - MPE 3000
Languages - BASIC, COBOL
Databases - IMAGE/QUERY
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Data General Corp.
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System - Eclipse M-600
Operating System - AOS, RDOS
Languages - Extended BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL
Word Processing - TIPS
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Control Data Corp.
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System - Cyber 72
Languages - BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, ALGOL
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Tandy Corp.
Radio Shack
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System - TRS-80 models I, II & III
Operating System - TRSDOS, LDOS, NEWDOS, NEWDOS/+ & NEWDOS/80
Languages - BASIC, FORTRAN, Z-80 Assembler
Word Processing - Scripsit, Electric Pencil, and one I wrote for myself before I got either of those
Applications - Word processing, spreadsheets, database, income tax preparation, custom programming
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Prime Computer, Inc.
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System - 9655
Operating System - PRIMOS
Languages - COBOL
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Various others
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Systems - Epson QX-10 and HX-20 using VALDOCS, CP/M & TPM; Xerox 820 and 820 II using CP/M; Sanyo MBC-550, 1150 & 1250 using CP/M and MP/M; and several others that are even less well known. The first computer I ever actually owned was a MITS Altair. The first useful computer I ever owned was a Radio Shack TRS 80 Model II. The first computer I ever loved using was the original Mac 128K that I ordered two weeks before it was released. I can tolerate some other computers, but I still love using a "Macintosh".
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Online & Internet Services
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I am very familiar with the Internet and other online services that preceded it, having first encountered ARPAnet many years ago (I don't remember exactly when).
Although these services are rendered obsolete by the Internet, I have used Compuserve (with text mode, WINCIM and CS NAV); America Online (using version 2.0 on Windows and Mac, and version 2.5 on Mac); Delphi (accessed through ProComm Plus for Windows in text mode for full Internet access); and the Internet for over 10 years. I'm familiar with using USENET, FTP (to and from a variety of systems), Gopher, Archie, and more utilities that have been rendered obsolete by the web for most people, but which remain as important tools for developers.
I'm familiar with compression and decompression utilities and methods on the major platforms including Mac, PC and Unix and I've used a variety of utilities including MacZIP, StuffIt, ZipIt, MacBIN, and Compact Pro for the Mac; PK-ZIP and WinZip for the PC, a variety of utilities for Unix, several compression code libraries, and I remember when we had to use UUENCODE and UUDECODE for transmitting binaries through the network. I am very familiar with Internet Email protocols (including the outdated protocols that were necessary for transmitting through a variety of services before they were connected to the Internet). I'm familiar with and have used many electronic bulletin board systems (BBS).
I'm very experienced with using Mozilla Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, iCab, and several other browsers. I have the ability to locate and synthesize large quantities of information expeditiously using the net.
I have been, at various times, a registered beta tester for several commercial developers including Microsoft and Apple (under several non-disclosure agreements) before they started doing open beta testing on the Internet.
I have installed and managed INN for newsgroups; NCSA and Apache web servers on Unix; WebStar and Quid Pro Quo web servers on Macintosh; Sendmail for email servers on Unix; AIMS (formerly MailShare and now EIMS) email server on Macintosh; email robots (autoresponders) that I wrote in Perl; and other similar Unix Internet utilities using both BSD Unix and Macintosh OS systems. I have a working knowledge of the Domain Name System and have managed domains using bind and other systems. I have a working knowledge of Cisco routers and managing them with TACACS+.
I have created and moderated several mailing lists through eGroups and YahooGroups, and I've installed, created and managed a variety of mailing lists with Majordomo on Unix boxes.
I've created many websites using a variety of programs, but I've settled on UserLand's Radio Userland for the domains I manage. I also use BBEdit for my sites and others I work on. I've tried a variety of other web editors and don't like any of them. I guess I'm just an old programmer who likes to have total control over the presentation of the pages I create and manage -- for better or worse. (grin)
I've programmed a variety of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs in Perl, and a variety of administrative and accounting scripts in Perl -- including a complete billing and invoicing system for an ISP. I've also installed and used a variety of CGI scripts that were created by others and made available on the Internet.
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Other Activities
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I am very experienced in desktop publishing and technical word processing. I am conversant to expert in many of the most popular productivity and graphics programs.
I have designed, performed pre-press tasks, and produced camera-ready prints of a wide variety of documents including technical and medical journals, books, newsletters, resumés, brochures, and so forth -- although that is not my best skill set.
I've consulted with businesses concerning computers and desktop publishing systems. I've developed and taught a variety of courses for training sessions for Fortune 500 companies, private tutoring, and college-level courses -- including credit courses and continuing education.
(I have taught hundreds of people how to use operating systems, accounting systems, spreadsheets, databases, desktop publishing programs, business graphics, and word processing. I've designed and taught several courses as an introduction to computers and data processing. I've taught programming in BASIC, Assembler, COBOL, and Pascal.)
I have consulted in the business use of many types of microcomputers. I've evaluated, selected, and installed micros for small businesses and individuals. I've designed, programmed, implemented, and documented custom solutions on microcomputers and minicomputers.
I've worked as a programmer, analyst, manager, and systems administrator on both minicomputers and Unix systems.
I've written articles for several national and local computer magazines, newspapers and newsletters. For a couple of years, I published the Mountain Computer Reporter.
With Nicki Fink, I co-authored Introduction to Macintosh with Guided Projects and Reference Guide to Your Macintosh, both published by Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Inc., in 1991.
At various times (though not currently) I was...
* a voting member of the Computer Press Association;
* a member of the Mountain Computer Users Group in Young Harris, Georgia;
* one of two founders of the Brass-Apple Users Group, and first president, in Brasstown, NC;
* one of three founders of the Arizona Macintosh Users Group in Mesa, AZ;
* founder and first president of the Sanyo Users Group of Arizona, in Mesa, AZ;
* founder and first chairman of the Atlanta Area Data General Independent Users Group, in Atlanta, GA;
* a member of the Digital Equipment Corporation Users Group (DECUS), in Atlanta, GA;
* a member of the Apple Programmers and Developers Association;
* a member of the Data Processing Management Association; and
* a member of the Association for Computing Machinery.
In Arizona in the early 1980s, I...
* served on the South Mountain Community College Data Processing Advisory Committee;
* served on the Executive Committee to produce and host the Executive Information Consortium and presented seminars on Electronic Spreadsheets and Office Automation; and
* I presented a seminar at the Sunbelt Computer Exposition on the topic of Micros - the Personal Computer (months before IBM introduced what they called their Personal Computer).
* I also volunteered as a proctor and guide at the National Computer Conference in Las Vegas, NV.
In activities not related to computers, I've been...
* the president of the Faculty Council at Tri-County Community College;
* the editor of the weekly bulletin for the Murphy, North Carolina, Rotary Club;
* a charter member, first president, and director of Appalachian Heritage Crafters, a non-profit cooperative in Murphy, NC;
* and I served on the board of directors of the Center for Participatory Change, in Asheville, NC for several years and currently serve on their Self Development Fund committee.
Note - I've included all of this to show that I am a versatile and self-motivated individual. I haven't spent all my life in a cubicle somewhere coding the same programs over and over. While I appreciate specialists, you almost have to work for a large corporation to make a living doing that -- and it takes a different personality than what I have. I am a project-oriented person. I like to face a new challenge, devise a solution, implement it, and move on to the next challenge. I don't like to do anything to make you dependent upon me. I want you to have something that works for you that you can use without constantly calling me back to fix it.
Most of the time I have succeeded. Not always, but almost always.
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Copyright © 2000 - 2007 by John L. Dilbeck: jd@johndilbeck.com
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using Radio UserLand and "BBEdit" on Apple Macintosh computers.
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