How We Experience Code

How your first programming language shapes your perspective

It was a simple question. I did not expect a large response. I was genuinely curious though when the thought popped in my head while I was taking a shower that morning. So I posted the following on Twitter and LinkedIn and moved on with work:

What was your first programming language?

What I got was a steady stream of responses that are still going strong since a week ago. It was both a blast from the past and a pleasant journey looking back into how many of us geeks and techies got our start in the software business. I welcome you to share your first experience with programming in the comments!

My journey was fairly typical. My very first computer was the Atari 2600. My father bought one in 1980 for himself. I spent hours on it though mastering Space Invaders, Asteroids, and other classics without any concept that these games were things that were programmed.

The first programming I did was on the Commodore 64. I still played games, but I would find BASIC programs in magazines to try out. Most of these were simple things like moving a cursor or changing screen colors. I definitely was not programming flight paths for space missions.