This worked wonders for me as a kid, learning computer programming. There was so much knowledge to be gained by typing in 1000’s of lines of other peoples code

This worked wonders for me as a kid, learning computer programming. There was so much knowledge to be gained by typing in 1000’s of lines of other peoples code, published in magazines. I think I probably learned so much more in between the lines during that period, than if I’d just read the user manuals. And the same is true even today - spending a few hours code-reading some wonderful open source project will enlighten you immensely. Code is a social construct - just like music. It prospers in the space between minds, in my opinion.