Starting at 8 years old, my dad had this great idea to have some "use" for the new Commodore 64/128 he had just bought. Like most kids of my generation there was something warm and appealing about that blue screen with light blue text which inspired us to sit down in front of it and just beginning typing things. We started by learning BASIC using one of the eponymous Usbourne programming guides with their cheesy robot cartoons and simplistic procedures on scaled learning. To this day, I cannot think of a better hobby to have learned alongside my father.