Comments on: My First Lesson In Programming

By: Phil Conrod

Phil Conrod — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:25:59 +0000

Like Bradly, the first computer program I wrote was from the classic programming book edited by David H. Ahl on an HP 1000. The first program I typed in was “Hunt the Wumpus” and then Super StarTrek. Call me a little nostalgic but I tracked down David H. Ahl to thank him for inspiring me to become a computer programmer when I was a kid. Then I did something really crazy. I asked David if I could have his permission to republish his classic programming book in a modern computer programming language so a whole new generation of kids could also be inspired by his classic book. He said yes and David also wrote an updated 2010 introduction to the new book. George Beker, who illustrated several of the original books, also came out of retirement and added a few more Robot illustrations to a new Special Illustrated edition of the new book. You can now relive all those classic games like Super Star Trek, MUGWUP and Lunar LEM Rocket. The 2010 Small Basic Edition includes almost all the classic BASIC games that inspired a generation of programmers but now in Microsoft Small Basic for a new generation of kids. It was published as an E-Book so you can easily cut and paste the Small Basic Source Code right into your Small Basic Compiler. You can find out more about this new Microsoft Small Basic Edition at http://computerscienceforkids.com/SmallBasicComputerGames.aspx. You can also find out more about Microsoft’s new Small Basic Development environment for Kids at http://www.smallbasic.com.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:22:00 +0000

My first programming experience was some time in elementary school when I took a summer class taught by a family friend… on and Apple II. Likely it was a hello world, but I definitely remember creating a maze that would get displayed on the screen. A few years later I learned how to program Hypercard and made a little music tutor app with full keyboard (+ sound!), tutorials, and quizes. Gosh, I must have been bored!

By: amul Patel

amul Patel — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:31:26 +0000

ah man.. the entry takes me back! I was typing in code from my C=64 Mags that I paid through the nose because they were from europe.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:56:08 +0000

I remember doing a very similar thing – making my dad help me type out the binary code (like 8 pages worth!!) to make our dot matrix printer spit out a likeness of alfred e. newman.

By: Bradly Feeley

Bradly Feeley — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:32:52 +0000

@Cameron: Hah I remember using Hypercard too. I think I made a solar system in it back in the day.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:59:38 +0000