My dad was an early PC adopter, purchasing an 8086 IBM PC sometime in the mid-eighties. This computer was a behemoth, a giant metal tank boasting 512K of RAM. It came preloaded with some text-only games. Perhaps more importantly, it was accompanied by a series of paper manuals. I recall three thick volumes collecting dust on a bookshelf next to the computer.
During a bout of extreme childhood boredom, I found myself drawn to these books and decided to pick one up. As luck would have it, the one I chose was the manual for the BASIC programming language. It wasn't long before I made the connection - this manual described the very programming language powering the games on our computer. The realization was intriguing and immediately drew me in, marking the beginning of my lifelong passion for creating software.
