What you describe as miserable was my introduction to software development. I never had any technically minded friends or family, and growing up I looked at pro

What you describe as miserable was my introduction to software development. I never had any technically minded friends or family, and growing up I looked at programming the same way I looked at professional sports; out of my reach and not worth attempting. I started my career as a graphic designer and flash became popular a few years after I started working. The ability to "put code anywhere" allowed me to experiment without having to learn an entire language or ecosystem just to get started. The fact that the IDE was all you need to design, script, and publish content made "hello world" as easy as installing a single app. When I consider the landscape of programming tools in 2019 I can't imagine that kid from a poor family with no training or support being able to make the transition from novice to professional. It's true that browser dev tools and online tutorials have drastically lowered to barrier of entry for application development, but the leap from browser dev tools to being able to actually author and deploy a fully functioning app is enormous. In the flash days there was no difference between the hello world and the professional development environment. It's sad, because becoming a software developer completely transformed my life and provided me with an income over 4x greater than my parents' combined salaries when I was a teenager. When I read comments deriding the old flash IDE for its simplicity it makes me sad for today's generation of underprivileged kids. I hope there is still a path for them to lift themselves out of a life of few opportunities through the joy of programming.