I grew up before the generation of kids who booted into basic-- I started programming with a soldering iron. I designed my first computer. Then I designed a video card for it.  Then I had to write a BIOS for it.<p>Here&#x27;s the reality though, Hypercard was a failure.  People didn&#x27;t use BASIC on the Apple II.  some did, sure, but most didn&#x27;t.<p>Most people are not programmers and not programming inclined.  Apple gives away the tools you need to build software for your iPad or iPHone-- in the form of Xcode which is FREE FOR EVERYONE to use.  It&#x27;s one of the best tools out there-- when Microsoft was still charging thousands a year, Apple put theirs out for free (and of course, these days Linux and GCC and Ruby on Rails and the whole programming tradition of open source puts even more tools in people&#x27;s hands.)<p>But heres the thing. Most people don&#x27;t care.  It&#x27;s never been a better time to be a programmer.<p>But the vast majority of people don&#x27;t want to be.