A great 2006 essay on the other side of this coin is "Why Johnny Can't Code" by David Brin [1]. From the lead paragraph: "BASIC used to be on every computer a c

A great 2006 essay on the other side of this coin is "Why Johnny Can't Code" by David Brin [1]. From the lead paragraph: "BASIC used to be on every computer a child touched -- but today there's no easy way for kids to get hooked on programming." The author ended up buying a used Commodore 64 for his son. He touched this topic again in his blog in 2011 [2] (scroll to "encouraging kids to program"; he also participates in the comment section). I personally think single board computers seem to keep tinkering and line coding alive. 1: https://www.salon.com/2006/09/14/basic_2/ https://www.salon.com/2006/09/14/basic_2/ 2: http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2011/06/milestones-leading-up-to-good.html http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2011/06/milestones-leading-up-...