I started out programming on an Acorn ATOM 2k+2k, upgraded to something like 12K total, which gave 'hi-res' graphics, and wrote little games I used to play myse

I started out programming on an Acorn ATOM 2k+2k, upgraded to something like 12K total, which gave 'hi-res' graphics, and wrote little games I used to play myself. There's really nothing quite like the joy of having a simple game come together and be fun enough that you play it yourself. Here's one I did in java. The source is available! http://jonathanwatmough.com/jplanetoid/ptoidApplet.html http://jonathanwatmough.com/jplanetoid/ptoidApplet.html Of course, I write bigger programs now, but the same joy of getting something to work should always be there. If it's there, it should shine through in your code and UI, and people should love your software. Make people happy. Just as an example, today's task that I got done, I managed to move some audio streaming code onto its own thread and get vastly improved performance in the UI of an iPhone app I'm building. It's just sooo addictive when a plan comes together! And one other thing. Pick a programming language to write in that is fun and powerful enough to be addictive. Clojure is a wonderful language, and so is Objective-C. Both have enormous power, yet are relatively easy to write once you have the basics down. Many people will say similar things about Ruby or Python, or hacking things together in Perl. The important thing is to pick something where you say 'just 5 more minutes on this'. Then you're addicted.