I'm sure I've spoken of this on more than one occasion to more than one person. But why not say it again.
Back in 1980 something, my parents brought home a Commodore Vic 20 computer. It was just a keyboard with a wire that hooked up to the TV.
We had a tape recorder that hooked up to it to "save" files to (that sounded quite interesting when played on the stereo!)
But when it was on, it was a wonderful learning opportunity for a 12 year old boy.
I learned how to make it display words on the screen. Then I learned how to animate the words. Then I used ASCII characters to draw pictures on the screen. I also had the idea to write a program that would carry on a conversation with the user. (I still haven't written that one yet!)
But this one little gift for our family catapulted me into a love and career for the rest of my life! I wasn't given a fish...I was given a fishing pole and a tackle box.
Thank you, Mom and Dad! I'm eternally grateful for the future you gave me in that one gift.
