Ah,
geek nostalgia. I still remember the day my dad brought home that shiny new
286. There was a shark game that was pretty cool and a
Tetris like game, but with triangles and squares instead of groups of blocks. But the greatest treasure on that machine wasn't accessible by the little blue
menu that popped up whenever you flipped the big red switch.
No, the real treasure was buried deeper, in folders and subdirectories, things I really didn't understand but was gleefully exploring late at night. Folder by folder, cd by cd.., and file by file, I found out what each and every single thing did on that computer. One night, I tried the file, 'qbasic.exe'. It looked a lot like the 'edit.exe' program, not too exciting. Then I looked at the help files, and gave it a whirl. That night, I wrote my first program.
I never paid attention during English class again. I remember trying to figure out how to write a slot machine program with the simple QBasic circle and line graphic commands. I always tried projects that were way too much for me and the simplistic QBasic, but it was fun to try. Now I shudder at the thought of programming in Basic, but I still smile every time I see that blue screen.