It all began with Apple’s HyperCard in the late 80’s!
I am dyslexic, so math and linear forms of communication have never been my friend. Ironically, I have never even taken a class in algebra, let alone computer science.
You may be thinking, “Why interest in writing code then?” An excellent question.
Learning to write code on my Mac, first HyperTalk and then Pascal, and now in Swift, was a very freeing activity for me. The computer would not judge—there was no parenthetical ‘dummy’ attached to an error. If the code would not work or the editor highlighted a syntax error, I would merely hunt down the problem!
I published dozens of “Stacks,” mostly HyperCard Stacks, to help seminary students study. One collection of stacks was a complete volunteer management database for parish ministry. I joined the Apple Developer’s Group, which in those days was quite costly, and had a ball creating software for the Church.
However, the praxis and busyness of ministry took over, and in 2016 returned to an interest in writing code.
The primary interest derives from necessity! I could not find a product to do what I wanted the computer to do, and since I took a sabbatical in the fall of 2016, this was an excellent time to learn Python and Swift and brush up on Foundation Software.
To date, I have several Apps in the Apple App Store, and although I have created a couple of Mac Applications, I have not released them to the Mac App Store. Someday...
Blessings,
—Mark