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> My parents knew how to put the cassette in and load a program > The computer came with a manual > some example listings were given > my mum bought home a c

> My parents knew how to put the cassette in and load a program > The computer came with a manual > some example listings were given > my mum bought home a computer > she was volunteer librarian at the school > I spent quite a lot of time at a command line thinking I'm not sure if this is a disconnect: you're calling this "not a lot", but I think it's exactly the "environment" and implicit guidance that the comment above is referring to. I don't think the reminiscence IS pointless! We can't realistically replicate precisely this for every kid today, but we can look at the things that worked about it (plenty of free time with a powerful, interesting machine?) and try to replicate those.

pbhjpbhj 6y ago
If I say, my parents new how to put the toast in and press the button: that's "put the cassette in and type the writing on the side of the cassette". The command line was what you got when you turned the computer on, if you had no idea how to use it you typed words until you typed "work you stupid computer" and it responded "Syntax Error" or "Unknown Command" or something. >we can look at the things that worked // It really didn't work. You don't teach people to cook by leaving them in a kitchen until they discover there's a hidden fridge, and a hidden switch for the cooker, and they can cook food rather than eat the prepared food in the fridge, only they haven't found any recipes yet and they're all written in Korean (which I don't know). Guidance and access to resources is what I needed.