I've been reading a book of late that has brought an old regret to the surface. Born in 1970, I had my first computer in 1979 and have had one ever since. But unlike a lot of kids who picked up the book on BASIC and went on to actually learn how to program, I didn't. At the time, I could not articulate 'why,' but today I'd have to say that I've always had trouble extrapolating how complex systems are built by looking at simple examples. [more inside]
posted by tcv on Oct 4, 2007 - 13 answers