Plenty of great programmers exist that did not have computers as children.(Someone had to invent them, and were very expensive for a long time). I myself never

Plenty of great programmers exist that did not have computers as children.(Someone had to invent them, and were very expensive for a long time). I myself never had a computer. The myth that you had to be exposed as a kid is mostly propagated by people who have an interest in shutting people out of the industry, or trying to tout themselves as prodigies. I was actively discouraged in university from taking a CS class because I had no experience. And even if general purpose computers encourage programming by themselves, a Rasberry Pi is $25. You could buy a computer with your allowance if you really wanted it, and I think the people we need are the people who sought computers on their own, not spoiled children whose parents had the foresight to own a PC.