14, 1970, Fortran IV, punchcards (if you don't count the "Minivac" 3 years before, but that wasn't code, it was wires and diodes and resistors and blinking lights). We had to write a program to sort three numbers from lowest to highest. I was hooked. But the fun really began when I learned that a crash wasn't fatal, and that nobody outside the room (teacher) would ever know. Crash machine, freak out classmates, reset. Cool.

FORTRAN IV, in the 4th form at a private school in Delaware, where we students who were taking the class were granted hands-on, unsupervised access, punching our cards, loading compilers, AFIT subroutines, etc... in an air-conditioned room in the basement of the main building. The best lesson was discovering that the world didn't end when I made the machine crash (the first time was an accident, honest!), and then demonstrated that fact to my friends. Repeatedly - that flashing red button was pretty cool! (and nobody outside the room was the wiser). That empowering discovery (crash, restart) transformed the great and powerful OZ (aka IBM 360) into a simple man behind the curtain ("pay no attention..."), and ever since, no machine has ever intimidated me. Except that one portable kitchen mixer I couldn't put back together, after I opened the case and this little spring flew out...

FORTRAN IV, in the IVth form at a private school in Delaware, where we students who were taking the class were granted hands-on, unsupervised access, punching our cards, loading compilers, AFIT subroutines in this air-conditioned room in the basement. The best lesson was discovering that the world didn't end when I made the machine crash (the first time was an accident, honest!), and then demonstrated that fact to my friends. Repeatedly - that flashing red button was pretty cool! (and nobody outside the room was the wiser). That empowering discovery (crash, restart) transformed the great and powerful OZ (aka IBM 360) into a simple man behind the curtain ("pay no attention..."), and ever since, no machine has ever intimidated me. Except that one portable kitchen mixer I couldn't put back together, after I opened the case and this little spring flew out...

Figure eights work better than circles or back and forth. And the patterns are prettier.