Drinking the other Kool-Aid

I remember the first computer I ever used. I was in 4th grade and there was Apple2 tucked away on a rolling cart in the corner. Occasionally we would get computer privileges if we wanted. Even then, I always wanted to be on it. But once on the computer, there wasn't much to do. I could write, but I didn't have much to say. I could do my math homework, but I wanted to have fun. (Math wasn't so much fun to me at that time.) A classmate had a computer at home and he would bring in and show me programs he created. He showed me a little bit of programming (I realize in retrospect) and offered to teach me. I learned as much as I could with my 4th grade brain and the tiny bit of computer time available to us. The next year I moved up in the system and none of my teachers had computers in their rooms and I got sucked into alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance and other poetic techniques. The apple had been forgotten.

Enter summer school. I have no idea how it happened, but before I went into high school, my mom enrolled me in a summer computer class - which was basically an entry level programming course. We had those tiny black and amber or green IBM screens with the huge floppy discs and our teacher proceeded to teach us programming concepts. The whole if/then statement and how you write so the computer understands you and executes what you want.

We wrote a program and tweaked it for our personal interests. It was a simple concept, you typed some commands into the computer and it would say something back and then launch a game depending on what you typed back. Or something like that. It wasn't very big, it had to fit on those big 5.25 floppy disks.

I remember my excitement of being able to take the floppy home with me to show my mom my project, but we didn't have a computer a home so my cool project because a dusty black floppy on my bookshelf.

These are my first two memories of computers. I've been passionate about learning and using them ever since. I didn't go on to be a programmer. I skirted the fine line of translators. Those able to understand technology in it's native language and translate it into the genre-speak of a particular audience.

I've always been a PC person. I rebelled against the "macs are for creative types" and got a thinkpad. I'm most certainly not going to adhere to someone's marketing campaign to express my creativity. So I shunned the silicon valley hardware manufacturer out of my principle of the opposite.

But that's all changed. Because a few days ago, I bought my first Mac. It's a black powerbook and the exterior rivals my matte thinkpad. I hate the touchpad and am forced to use it and the keys are a bit awkward, but for the most part I am getting along. I miss the little red mouse pointer button on my thinkpad (that is my favorite feature). But I dig some of the meta/individual organization techniques. The built in iSight is cool, but the quality is less than average.

The main reason I decided to get the Mac is Video. There is so much and much is done on a Mac. Plus it's about time I do my own cross-platform QA testing for projects and sites. So there. I've come to the dark side. But I don't expect to put down my IBM anytime soon. Oh yeah, this entire post was written on the new macbook.

Comments

[Angie L.]

which other summer school do you know?
I found some here http://www.summer-school-programs.com

but what is the url of yours?

[pinky the first]

yes, the first sip may not be the one that brings you over completely, but soon enough, you'll wonder why that pc is still collecting dust in the corner, and decide to donate it to charity...