How I learned to program

I had just started my first programming class. It was 1997 and I was in first year engineering. We were being taught Turbo Pascal. I didn't have my own computer -- I had no money for anything beyond the bare necessities of life in those days. My boyfriend did have a computer, and he went away for a long weekend, leaving me with his computer. When he got back, I showed him the mastermind game I had made while he was away. It had only rudimentary graphics, and all it did was make a code and mark your guesses, but it worked!

"How did you figure out how to do that?"

"I read the help," I answered.

"You learned to program by READING THE HELP??"

Borland had really great help docs :)

Also, I am struck (yet again) by how much I was helped by those who had a more secure position in life than I did. Him sharing his computer with me was a big help in me eventually going into programming.