Americlecticintellectica
A children’s classic in the making. Just needs an illustrator.
“Shmegley McSchmoop, please bring me some soup!”
Cried the customer to the headwaiter.
“I need something hot, so what have you got?
We can talk about main courses later.”
“Today, sir, the soup is just cold gloppy goop,”
Said Shmegley McSchmoop with some sorrow.
“But the chef says that we will be serving split-pea
If you come back at this time tomorrow.”
In 1978, it was rare ever to encounter a computer, much less someone who had one at home. The “personal computer revolution” was only about a year old, with Apple, Commodore, and Radio Shack all introducing their first consumer models in 1977.
Of the people who did have computers at home, surely only a small fraction were so generous with them as to allow their sons’ twelve-year-old friends to spend afterschool hour after hour, day after day, month after month sitting at them, tapping in and trying out dumb little programs; and an even smaller fraction were also seasoned programming experts with the desire, ability, and patience to impart some of that expertise to receptive but very green ears.
This weekend I, one of those twelve-year-old friends in 1978, mourn the passing of Andy Kane, one of those generous and patient computer owners. Andy was one of the many reasons I was lucky to befriend his son Chuck in the seventh grade. He was a living example of the ability to make a career out of writing software and he contributed significantly to nurturing the then-embryonic skills that today support me and my family. My condolences to his; I will always be grateful.