I learned programming from programming books; the only actual computers I got to use were demonstration units in computer stores, where I'd hang out on lunch br

I learned programming from programming books; the only actual computers I got to use were demonstration units in computer stores, where I'd hang out on lunch breaks until the staff threw us out. I'd memorize a fragment of syntax, then try it until I got it right in the store. Later, at home, I'd make up my own language / CPU hybrids from lists of instructions in notebooks. Whole pages for memory / registers. The intensity of my desire to understand computing is hard to comprehend to me now. I'd spend hours thinking about how to combine what I'd learned to do new things. When I eventually got a (second-hand) Amstrad CPC464 for home use, the tape drive didn't work reliably. I'd lose every program I wrote when the machine restarted - and certainly, without a tape drive, I couldn't be tempted by games. It was just me and the BASIC prompt, fresh, every day. If people are genuinely motivated, and they have access to information, there isn't much need for a lot of sophisticated electronics to learn. I'd even write programs on those little toy computers that had two lines of LCD digits, where you'd never see more than two lines of your program at a time.