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I started out learning Python. And before you "tsk, kids these days", it was before Python became the go to starter language for a lot of universities. No, I started learning around age 12.

My dad (a programmer himself), bought "Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner" and we went through it together. He started out holding my hand as I went through the exercises, but pretty quick I was getting through them mostly on my own.

It was really fun, and I'm absolutely going to do the same if/when I have children of my own. The books exercises were all games, which made it really fun. Instead of "hello world", the first program printed "game over". I was super proud of the hangman game I eventually wrote.

It gave me a leg up when I started taking actual classes, and really instilled a love of coding and puzzle solving in me that propelled me through two degrees.

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  • 4
    Aw, that's sweet. Great father-son times as well. I'll be stealing this if you dont mind.
  • 2
    @kkalem building PCs together is also an excellent bonding time, even if my job was mostly to hold a flashlight.

    When I finally built my own machine from scratch, I made him hold the flashlight
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