I remember my first computer.  It was a Timex-Sinclair 1000 (known as a ZX-81 overseas).  My dad bought it, and he and I learned about computers and programming together on it.

Last week, the BBC called it a small black box of computing desire¹.  They observed that it “created a generation of software developers”, and I’m one of them.

I remember storing files on the cassette tape, as well as buying Frogger on cassette to play it on the computer.  There was the RAM pack that you had to put on the back of it to do anything beyond the 1-KB of onboard memory, which didn’t have a great connector and thus would fall off occasionally.  Magazines published source code, which wasn’t always entirely accurate, and which you had to type in.

All of these problems were surmountable, and they didn’t keep me from using it.  I learned quickly that you could only reuse a cassette tape a few times before it got too warped to save files.  The RAM pack problem was solved with a couple of well-placed rubber bands.  I got good at reading the magazine code and figuring out where they might have made a typo or a logical error.  There was also the machine’s propensity for overheating, which I solved by precariously balancing a glass of ice water on the top of the machine.  At least the keyboard was flat, so a spilled glass wouldn’t spell complete destruction.

I wonder how much different my life would be if we hadn’t picked up that computer.