The first computer I ever programmed was a HP-9810 programmable desktop calculator. It must have been 1975 when I first got to use it. It weighed 34 lbs, had a stack-based architecture, and perhaps 4 KB of memory when fully tricked out with the optional expansion module. The math department at my high school had one. We also had access to a time-share system running BASIC, accessed via an ASR-33 over a 110-bps leased phone line.

In 1976, I had the good fortune to spend part of the summer between my junior and senior years of high school at Stevens ...