Lost Lessons from 8-Bit BASIC
There is one more important thing here: the 8 bit computer immediately invited you to start coding. The barrier to entry was incredibly low to the point of nonexistent. Compare this to a laptop today or even worse a tablet.<p>I very strongly believe that perpetuating a "code me!" mindset vs the "consume me!" mindset has really big consequences. The ability to make your computer do something that <i>you</i> can do something with, that the kind of game you bought with your computer is something <i>you</i> could attain as well (which is not necessarily true -- some of those games were incredible feats of programming but still the illusion was there) is completely, absolutely missing today.<p>And the consequence is: you get (at least the illusion of) the possibility that you yourself can create something that is easily spread worldwide. The HN readers will argue the huge audience of tablets makes up for this but the problem is -- most people will never even think they can do it. That's the problem: did your iPad came with a manual for a programming language? I didn't think so.<p>Prorgam or be programmed. <a href="http://www.rushkoff.com/program-or-be-programmed/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rushkoff.com/program-or-be-programmed/</a><p>Kids Can't Use Computers <a href="http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/" rel="nofollow">http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-comput...</a> (I know there is a lot of controversy about this article but it does have valid points.)