Chapter List

Introduction

As "techies," we embrace the ability to understand the technology behind how and why things work, to a point beyond most other people's interest. Usually what drives our interest is curiosity, a curiosity very similar to that which we experienced in childhood.

Curiosity comes in different shapes and sizes for children. I remember kids in my neighborhood wanting things like baseball gloves, model planes, or even chemistry sets. Each of these toys was a unique facilitator for the individual's curiosity. My curiosity began around fourth grade with my introduction to a Commodore Vic 20.

My best friend and I whipped through the pages of our "Introduction to BASIC" texts. First, we learned the fundamentals of BASIC, such as PRINT, IF, and GOTO. Before you know it, we were writing real programs. One summer we decided to use the "all-powerful" computing device to make our own Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. Silly as it sounds now, those books were very cool to us.

The point is, BASIC allowed us to make our own interactive version of a book. Computers enabled our creativity and curiosity. Eventually the Commodore 64 came out and I was introduced to the concept of the modem (and the concept of getting yelled at for making long-distance calls). Even though it was only 300 baud, the modem represented a new beginning for us; it was a...