I discovered the Macintosh in 1987, became a HyperCard fanatic, and quickly decided that I wanted to become a Mac programmer. After waiting almost two years for my previous employer to find me Mac programming work, I left to find it myself. I landed at LMIS in 1991.
I just think the Mac is the coolest platform for both beginning computer users and software developers. If Apple Marketing could get its head out of its ass, the Mac would be the undisputed personal computer platform of choice. If you don't agree, then you've just been brainwashed by someone else's superior marketing. Okay, if that sounds a little fanatical, let me point out that I said "personal" computer. I will concede that other platforms may be better suited as database, file, or intranet servers in certain situations.
I've used the MPW environment to write thousands of lines of code since 1991, and I wrote a shareware program called "Stapler" back in 1992 using THINK C 5.0 and the THINK Class Library. It was a simple program that used the Alias Manager to create multi-file alias files. I now rely on CodeWarrior whenever I do Macintosh programming.
Designing a user interface is hard. Really hard. It too often gets treated like an after-thought, in my opinion. Look at it this way--the user interface is the one and only side of your software seen by your customer. He or she doesn't give a damn how efficient or interesting or well-designed your code is (at least to the extent that it doesn't appear sluggish). If the interface to it is tacked on without consideration of the level of experience of the user, it's no better than spaghetti code.
Even though I enjoy designing an application's user interface, I can't claim to be really proud of any of the interfaces I've done. They've each been learning experiences, which I could continue to tweak and improve until the end of time. I keep hoping I'll get the chance to go back and fix 'em...
My first online experience was becoming a member of Delphi using a Tandy Color Computer and a 300-baud modem back in 1986. I was one of the first members of America Online when I joined in 1988, when it was a Mac-only service and pioneered point-and-click online access. Now I'm riding the wave of the Internet explosion caused primarily by the WWW, still learning new stuff all the time, and having a ball.
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