Early computers taught me that computers were for programming like pencils were for writing with. You turned the machine on and the first and only thing it did

Early computers taught me that computers were for programming like pencils were for writing with. You turned the machine on and the first and only thing it did was cry out to be programmed. After that, it would do nothing -- until you gave it further instructions. My dad got a TRS-80 Model 16. It was from the Model II line, which was incompatible with the Model I line (Model I, Model 3, Model 4) that most people are familiar with but it packed a punch in the business niche because it was able to run Xenix. When booted into Z80-only Model II mode, it could do high-resolution (640x240) graphics with an add-in card. My dad used that graphics mode to write a simulation of engine crank mechanisms in BASIC that could plot mechanical advantage curves and draw a representation of the piston and crank on screen. That was my first exposure to computer animation and it blew my damn mind. I would later get a VIC-20 so I could write my own animations (often involving the JQK-UQI birds).