I got started when I was 11 or 12 with something called Blitz Basic. It was a language developed for the purpose of quick, easy game development. Game development was what got me hooked, with my first real program being a 'guess the number' game.
Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
71–80 of 121 posts
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#72BASIC on a Spectravideo 328. My second computer was an Amiga 500, and programming assembly on it was just amazing fun, especially learning to control the custom chips.
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#73Age 8. Using my dad's PC (Compaq Transportable), I got my start typing in BASIC programs found in the back of Enter magazine. From age 11-14, HyperCard/HyperTalk (Macintosh SE) was my favorite/only environment for writing programs (called "stacks"). Then high-school happened, and I discovered girls and sports. I didn't really get back into programming again until college.
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#74I started on a TRS-80 with tape casette backup programming basic at a local computer lab. My first computer was a commodore vic-20, then finally the commodore 64 :).
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#75Age 12. Traded my Atari 2600 and a bunch of cartridges for an Atari 400 with BASIC and Pac-Man. Learned to program from Antic and Creative Computing magazines. I can still hear that old Atari 410 cassette making the noises. Also, the Atari 400 made be very appreciative of real keyboards later in life.
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#76Got started with my Atari 400 and friend's commodore 64s in mid 80s
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#77First started programming in my freshman year of college, which was about 6 years ago. Took to it pretty well, really enjoyed it, and it remained my major for the duration of my time at school. To this day I'm not sure why I chose to apply as a computer science major, but I'm keenly aware of why I continued to do it: it's fun!
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#78I am 25 and I learned to program in 7th grade, when I was 12 years old. I joined a "Warez" group on AOL that distributed pirated software and Mp3s. This was pre-napster era by the way. At the time, it just seemed like a cool group to join. I was a really curious kid and I did not realize the illegality of it all.
I was mentored by others in the group. I learned HTML and Web design. Also, I learned to program AOL add-ons using Visual Basic 6.0 and the good ole' Win32 API. I could have knocked my dad over with a feather when I told him I was learning to program. He was so excited. He is also a techy and a bit of a hacker.
I made a bunch of AOL add-ons like chat room macros, trivia games, and auto instant message responders. But, my fondest project was a chat room e-mail server. It would parse an AOL chat room for requests. Then, it would forward the appropriate message (with the software attached) via e-mail to the requester. I called in to AOL's customer support line and told them I ran a popular newsletter. I was able to whitelist my AOL account. This way, I would not be limited by their daily e-mail limit. They bought it.
After repeatedly punting and then TOSing a classmate, and having their account shutdown. AOL caught on to my nefarious ways. They terminated my families AOL account, and blacklisted our credit card. My mother, who used AOL to chat with grandma and browse the internet, was furious. My dad went along with my mom. But, later in life, told me how proud he was of me and how he told all of his friends at work. He used to joke, "Yea, AOL refuses to take my money after Robby got done with em."
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#79Age 12, BASIC on the Apple II at school. I learned from some books that had cartoon robots in them. Anyone remember these?
Re: Poll: How old were you when you started programming?
#80Age 13. In early 1994, I started building little websites in HTML for my friends and family. Might have been even earlier if you count playing around with BASIC in school computer lab on an Apple II.