I got my first computer when I was 7 (2nd grade). I had to built it—my dad gave me the circuit board, a bunch of parts and the schematic. He showed me how to match the schematic parts to thier number on the board and the number on the chip. He gave me a cheat sheet for the resistor's colors (I didn't end up memorizing them--to this day I have to look them up). He showed me how to bend the pins so the parts didn't fall out when you turned the board over to solder them.

I'd spend an hour putting parts in, then I'd get to my favorite part where I got to use the soldering iron. I'd flip the board over and solder all the holes I'd just filled with parts. My dad would monitor me for a few minutes before he got bored and then it was all me.

I don't remember how long it took because it was so long ago, but I remember finally soldering the last part in and looking in awe at my bootleg Apple ][+. The first time I used it it didn't even have a case. And no disks either--we used the tape to load some games and play around. I learned basic that way and that computer is probably why I'm a programmer today.

I loved that computer—I still have that computer. And it still works.

Yep. It's funny, but a 5 year old can easily manage an oscilloscope and basic analog circuits. And a 6-7 year old - an oscilloscope, a logic probe and digital circuits. The kid doesn't have to be a wunderkind too. It is just a matter of being exposed to these tools and having dad working at home with the equipment.

My dad picked me up and chucked me behind his first computer when I was 3 (24 years ago) to play Paratrooper with a joystick. Supposedly it didn't take too long before I could start the thing up, switch floppy disks, a: and start up the game(s). Not too long later my parents put me behind the PC whenever there was a new game so I could figure it out.

This! I don't know if the fact that an iPad can't be programmed but kids are getting tons of them is a net positive (exposure to stuff in general) or a net negative (no programming allowed). Wishing Apple would relax their restrictions.

You can program games on the iPad:

http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/

It all depends on what you compare it to. To me, iPad and iPhone are the new SNES and Game Boy (which I grew up with), and they are much more open. The biggest loss to me is the experience of playing socially on a split-screen.

I wouldn't say I was programming at the age of 9 on the Pentium I with Windows 95, but I was happily clicking away in Windows Explorer, quite literally ‘exploring’. Programming started a few years later with QBASIC and such :)

I got my first computer around that age as well. However, that was far from the norm.

I probably have a terrible bias there, but most other kids I knew had access to computers, too, at this age and possibly before. That was in 1999/2000, I guess you’re slightly older.

Indeed, my first computer at home was around 1988.