Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Chapter 2 Do the old

Seeing that the Ching Ming Festival is coming soon, Tang Huan used his Sunday rest time to go to the cemetery alone to pay homage to his grandfather. He did not expect to meet Deng Lijun on the way back.

Tang Huan bought several different newspapers and walked back to the scene of the incident while turning over. His second-hand car was still parked on the side of the road. After Tang Huan got on it, he did not rush to start. Confirm the characteristics of the current era.

When he accidentally saw the promotional information of Apple Computer on the advertising page, Tang Huan’s eyes lit up. This is a colleague, which reminded him that the first pot of gold after rebirth may be able to use their brains on them, after all. If you are in the line of business, you are familiar with it.

At the end of the 1970s, it was in the dawn of the development of microcomputers. In the future, IT bigwigs are still exploring. Intel’s main business is memory, not CPU; Microsoft is selling BASIC compilers everywhere; Oracle’s predecessor, RSI, relied on flicker to survive; among the exceptions, HP was still obsessed with minicomputers, and the blue giant IBM was in fear of the budding and development of the personal computer industry due to antitrust investigations, but it was the Apple that came into being The computer came to the fore and flourished, and it was favored by Wall Street investors. When it goes public next year, the three founders Markkula, Jobs and Woz will directly enter the ranks of billionaires.

What is the concept of billionaire wealth in the early 1980s? Tang Huan felt refreshed when he thought of this. If he couldn’t even seize this opportunity, he would be born again in vain.

Since the first pot of gold has chosen Apple Computer, the next step is to consider how to act.

Seeing how powerful Apple computers are in the advertisement, Tang Huan smiled disdainfully. It is no wonder that small computer manufacturers such as HP now look down on microcomputers and think they are just toys with weak functions. Indeed, now users buy Apple computers back, mainly It is still used as a calculator, and it can also be used for playing games. It doesn’t even have any office software. It’s too cold. Of course, this also means that there is a huge market demand hidden in it.

Since the current use of personal computers is still so lackluster, let’s open the door to another new world by yourself. The first king-level application that Tang Huan chose to develop is naturally spreadsheet software that is almost ubiquitous. .

In fact, the world’s first spreadsheet software VisiCalc was launched in 1979. The developers were Dan Blicklin and Bob Frankston of Harvard University. The initial price was $100. VisiCalc will be available in the next six years. The sales of more than 700,000 copies show its ability to attract gold.

Thinking of possible potential competitors, Tang Huan can no longer read newspapers. The gimmick of the world’s first spreadsheet software, the title of the father of spreadsheets, and the tens of millions of dollars in sales must not be spent. Leave his house.

Tang Huan drove his car and headed straight to the university, where he could find Apple computers as his software development platform.

…

The University of California, Berkeley is located on the hills of Berkeley, northeast of San Francisco.

Amidst the scenery of the campus leaning on the mountains and the sea, covered with flowers and trees, and lawns like blankets, there are more than 80 towering and elegant buildings scattered among them. Among them, the 307-foot Sather Tower is the school’s landmark. Standing on the tower, looking far away, you can see the rainbow-like Golden Gate Bridge and the downtown area of ​​San Francisco across the water.

Tang Huan was unwilling to watch the scenery along the way. After he parked his car, he went straight to the engineering school. As the most common microcomputer, Apple Computer, you can easily find it there.

Because I deeply felt that I wasted too much time to acquire modern scientific knowledge, during Tang Huan University, in addition to studying in the mathematics department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences according to my personal interests, he also took courses in economics, electronic engineering and computer science at the same time. During the recent period, Tang Huan mainly spent time in the College of Engineering. He had a good relationship with Cai Shaotang, a Chinese-American professor there, and he happened to ask him for help.

Even if today is Sunday, Cai Shaotang is still working. This is his normal state, because American university professors have scientific research tasks in addition to their usual teaching, and ethnic Chinese, if they don’t work hard, will even make their heads. There is no chance.

Tang Huan quickly found Cai Shaotang and explained his intentions.

For Tang Huan, who was also diligent and motivated, Cai Shaotang was impressed and admired very much, and happily agreed to his request.

Cai Shaotang has been a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Berkeley since 1971. Looking at the face of this middle-aged Chinese, Tang Huan flashed in his mind, and suddenly remembered that this is not a person who is waiting for a while. The theories such as memristor, Chua’s circuit and cellular neural network were proposed by him. It is even known as the father of nonlinear circuit analysis theory. Because of the successful prediction of the memristor, Cai Shaotang is expected to win the Nobel Prize in the future.

Such a great person may only have a reputation in the academic world, and the general public does not know it well, but when it comes to Cai Shaotang’s eldest daughter, Tiger Mother Cai Meier, people will have an impression. The publication of the book “Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother” once detonated. The whole world has a big discussion about the educational methods of the East and the West.

I have to say, this is really an era to show their talents. There are great people everywhere and there are plenty of opportunities.

After Tang Huan sighed, he hurriedly entered the working state. He felt a sense of urgency. After all, he knew that spreadsheet software would be popular only by foresight, and the original first developer discovered this market demand by relying on his true skills. I don’t know how the other party’s progress is now, and I can’t care about it. It can be said that “time is money” is the most appropriate portrayal of the current situation.

Now the microcomputers on the market provide ordinary users with a variety of disk operating systems, namely DOS, while the development interface provided to professionals is assembly language, and Apple computers are no exception.

However, unlike the commonly recognized personal computers, Apple computers at this time did not use Intel’s x86 architecture CPU, but another set of instruction system MOS6502. The reason why Woz chose this was only because MOS6502 was the cheapest.

As a result, it brought some minor troubles to Tang Huan’s program development, but that’s all, thanks to the open source community that flourished in his previous life, the collection of so many elite memories, and his own talent. , These questions are of limited difficulty.

Tang Huan’s title of madman is not exaggerated. He only slept for three hours a day. In the next four days, he wrote thousands of lines of assembly code, completed the main functions of the spreadsheet, and worked reliably. It can be directly used as a finished product for ordinary users.

Finally, I tested this spreadsheet software named CGrid. Tang Huan was very satisfied with the version number 1.0 record of the notebook and marked the completion time. April 5, 1979, coincided with the Ching Ming Festival. The Chinese wanted Worship ancestors today. Tang Huan suddenly felt a little dazed and perplexed. He really didn’t know where his roots belonged.

However, Tang Huan quickly put away this emotion. Now that he has been reborn, he must grasp the moment and contact Apple as soon as possible to get his CGrid to log on to their computer sales platform as soon as possible to make a lot of dollars.

The current power structure of Apple should be that Markkula is the chairman of the board of directors, Woz is the technical director, Jobs is the vice president, and Scott is the president. Among them, Markkula specially invited him to restrain Jobs. Naturally. The two didn’t deal with each other. In this way, the goal that needs to be dealt with is undoubtedly the leader of Qiao’s gang. Thinking about various rumors about this person’s weird temper in his youth, Tang Huan scratched his head subconsciously.

To find Jobs for business talks, an appointment must be made. Tang Tan dialed the phone number recorded in Apple’s notebook, and answered politely. Jobs is currently busy with financing matters and rarely shows up in the office, so he can’t make arrangements. Definite meeting time, but there will be an important interview tomorrow, maybe he will show up.

Tang Huan put down the phone and sighed with regret. It looked a little unsuccessful, but I think about it. Now Apple Computer is the darling of investors. Jobs naturally wants to socialize everywhere, but he can’t wait. Let’s go to Apple to check it out tomorrow.

After thinking about it, Tang Huan organized the mess around the computer, got up and left the office. He hadn’t seen his aunt Tang Yun for several days. If he didn’t want to be complained, he had to go home quickly.

Tang Huan felt a little nervous at the thought of facing this only relative, but it was better not to be late to get through this level. But in fact, he was a little worried, because Tang Yun’s mood was a little depressed, and he didn’t pay attention to the difference between Tang Huan and before. He thought his behavior that he hadn’t shown up in the past few days was to avoid the family. The internal contradictions made me feel more guilty.

“Tang Huan, how did you choose your graduate major?” Tang Yun asked concerned.

Tang Huan’s thoughts turned, he just remembered how to pan for gold, and even forgot to continue his studies.

“Auntie, I am in my twenties. It is not the same thing to rely on you for assistance. I heard that the restaurant business is not good now. Anyway, I have adapted to life here. Why don’t I find a job? It’s too late to read the master’s and doctorate.”

“Tang Huan, don’t worry about the economy, I can open up the turnover. You always worry about the money, but you don’t take your aunt as your relatives. My dad and I are now the only ones who depend on each other. You To spend my time, UU reading www.uukanshu.com, in the future, I will count on you to take care of it.”

Seeing Tang Huan scratching her head to speak, Tang Yun waved her hand and continued: “Your father and I studied here when we were young. The entire family has emigrated for more than ten years. It can be said that she knows the rules of American society very well. We Chinese want to get ahead, and getting a PhD is the safest way. Isn’t Berkeley that there are many outstanding Chinese. Besides, the current economic stagflation situation has caused inflation, not to mention the unemployment rate. It’s all increased. Where can I find a suitable job? Don’t waste time, listen to my aunt, and choose a major to study for postgraduate with peace of mind.”

Tang Yun is a heroine, and she has a natural temper. Tang Huan couldn’t stand up to his insistence, so she had to smile secretly. Bill Gates had dropped out of school and started a company. Why couldn’t she follow suit.

Although there are many opportunities in this era, once the first opportunity is missed, many advantages will disappear.

The life blueprint designed by 　　 may not be suitable for a reborn person like myself. Let’s follow the original plan secretly, and find opportunities to communicate with each other slowly.

“By the way, a Ms. Deng who claims to be your friend has called twice in the past few days. I said that you are busy with your studies and will not be free until the weekend. Please hurry up and reply.”

Tang Huan patted his forehead. He has been busy developing programs these days, but he has forgotten Deng Lijun. If he neglects the beautiful lady, he may even lower the degree of goodwill he has just established.

Seeing Tang Huan hurriedly making the phone call and hinting at avoidance from time to time, Tang Yun was amused for a while, and shook her head to make room.