I started out programming using Sinclair BASIC on my ZX Spectrum +2A purely because I wondered what the menu was for, other than loading games off a tape. It wa

I started out programming using Sinclair BASIC on my ZX Spectrum +2A purely because I wondered what the menu was for, other than loading games off a tape. It wasn't really "programming" though, so much as typing in the Breakout clone listed in the manual. Once in school we learned programming using MacBASIC on a Macintosh 128K, doing basic trigonometry formulas and answer/response programs. Now that I've experienced everything from PL/SQL to PHP, I would agree to a certain extent that beginning your programming experience with the language supplied with your machine has its advantages, but I would question the long term benefits - there's no harm in learning how to set up a new programming environment in order to be taught the rudiments behind how a computer works, and arguably having that base level knowledge is more advantageous.