My father bought the first family computer, an IBM PCjr, when I was 4 or 5. Donkey.BAS made a huge impact on me, although its easy to overlook as a crap game th

My father bought the first family computer, an IBM PCjr, when I was 4 or 5. Donkey.BAS made a huge impact on me, although its easy to overlook as a crap game these days. Sure, there were "better" games that I played on that system: my older brother purchased Sierra's Black Cauldron–which I played the shit out of. My uncle wanted me to grow up to be a pilot, so MS Flight Simulator was in order, too. Jordan Mechner's Karateka is still, to this day, mind blowing to me. And lest we forget some Broderbund and Microprose classics. But donkey.BAS was, which all those other things weren't, is my _first_, real introduction to programming. I was too young at the time to really recognize the value in being able to not only consume, but read the code, change it, learn from it. Unlike more polished games, I learned way more about programming from changing, breaking, and subverting donkey.bas than anything else on the PCjr. Sure, it wasn't _the best_, but it was the first time that someone pulled back the curtain and I was afforded a glimpse at what was possible, and what computers could _do_. Between that, pouring through the "Hands On Basic" book[0], and typing in basic programs COMPUTE magazine, I'm not sure that I'd be a programmer today, as hyperbolous as that sounds... And some overly nostalgic part of me kind of misses doing PEEKs and POKEs in physical memory and the summer I spent learning binary math because I didn't understand the relationship between the AH and AL registers of my 286 years later. Then I go back to writing CRUD applications in whatever javascript library is the flavor of the month. I just hope that kids today have the same access to shitty, but accessible, chunks of code to help inspire them and show them what the machines they interact with everyday are really capable of. [0]: http://www.brutman.com/BasementCleanout/IBM_Hands-On_BASIC/Hands-On_BASIC_front.jpg http://www.brutman.com/BasementCleanout/IBM_Hands-On_BASIC/H...