This is what really got me started programming: graphing calculators. Learn math class technique once, program calculator to do it for me, spend rest of class writing text adventures. <3
Wrote a few silly programs throughout late high school, and held a summer job working on an insurance sales app. Its only good trait was its accessibility.
Been writing Bash scripts since I became a Unix geek -- even after I realized that any Bash script >10 lines really wants to be a Python or Ruby script instead.
University programming language paradigms class. Was a lot of fun and I intend to work through my copy of The Little Schemer sometime, but otherwise I see little reason to use LISPs over more practical languages like Python.
In the end the only good thing about PHP is that it got me off of VB. I still have to use it occasionally for work purposes; otherwise it would've died for me in 2004.
Introduced to it by a maverick professor at my Java-using university -- in my last semester. What a lucky break! Have been using it professionally ever since.
Picked it up when I started working at a partly-Rails shop. Could largely do without Rails but Ruby itself is a lot of fun. Community needs to document more and be smug/wacky a bit less though.
