Stupidity. I didn't RTFM. I wanted to copy a game from one disk to another. So I printed it out (it was in AppleSoft BASIC), then started typing it back into a

Stupidity. I didn't RTFM. I wanted to copy a game from one disk to another. So I printed it out (it was in AppleSoft BASIC), then started typing it back into a new file on a new disk. Around page 5 zillion (often even having my parents read the code out loud while I typed it in), I realized that all I needed to do was LOAD the program, swap disks, and SAVE it. As it turns out, reading that much BASIC was enough to give me an understanding of it. Then came Apple ][ assembly language, COBOL, and my first game (a Choplifter clone, but with a fighter jet instead) around age 12. Since then, and like many others, I've self-taught whatever I needed to know.