Newsgroups and mailing lists were the thing. To me as a kid, the space felt much cozier and more intimidating. But the technology has evolved in more ways tha

Newsgroups and mailing lists were the thing. To me as a kid, the space felt much cozier and more intimidating. But the technology has evolved in more ways than just stack exchange. There was the availability of compilers in general- today, it's a search and a 1 minute download to get your compiler. And pick your quirky tutorial of choice. Back in the day as a kid, it was mowing lawns and paying for boxes of disks, paying for thick books(hope you bought the right $40 book!), nobody to verbally speak with, and staring at obtuse example code for hours late night while you were supposed to be sleeping. Good times.