How did you get started in software development?
Javier tagged me awhile back asking how I got started with programming. So here it goes.
How old were you when you started programming?
I was 16 years old in 10th grade. Harold Fenske was a fantastic teacher and I think he is still teaching at my old school. I googled and found a picture of him (he is second from the left).
What was your first programming language?
Pascal on a Macintosh was where I started out.
What was the first real program you wrote?
I think the first exercise we had was to program the American flag in loops and print statements. Doesn’t seem that hard now, but I didn’t really know what a loop was up until that point. Whoever could write it in the least number of lines won and I think I tied a girl for fewest number of lines.
Later that semester I built a graphing calculator that could plot x, 2x, etc. Nothing complex, but I was getting the hang of it by that point.
If you knew then what you know know would you have started programming?
Sure, it was fun then and it’s still fun now.
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
Program because you love it, not for the money. Money is nice to have, but it wouldn’t be worth it if programming weren’t fun or interesting.
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?
In college I stayed up all night writing an algorithm to walk through a cube and … well I don’t exactly remember what the exercise was, but I remember figuring out the core of it at 3:30am and being pretty happy.
I’d like to hear from:
If only I were 
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