Ask HN: What sparked your interest in programming?

Re:Ask HN: What sparked your interest in programming? by Buttons840 on Sunday March 10, 2019 @06:48PM (#19355215)

I had a VTech "PreComputer 2000" in the 90's, a kids toy. It was battery powered, with a 2 line display, had word games, etc. One of the games was "BASIC", which was like a typing game that beeped a lot. I finally read the manual and found out that BASIC was a pretty good game once you understand it.

I'm glad the creators of that toy computer made it into an actual computing device, more than the mere toy it appeared to be, and that they included a manual which actually taught how to program.

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Re:Ask HN: What sparked your interest in programming? by nikofeyn on Sunday March 10, 2019 @06:56PM (#19355268)

i had a similar experience, making a little password "application" on mine. however, it didn't turn me on to programming. it was just a thing i did. many years later, i sort of fell into software. i still don't like programming because the tools are always well below what i'd like and really get to me. my saving grace is enjoying the idea of using programming to represent some concept or learn about some new idea. "doing" with software is very frustrating because, as bret victor has talked about, seeing the thing is hopeless with today's tools.

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