When I was at school very few people owned a computer. I was taught BASIC programming using a terminal that printed everything (no screen) and was connected to the computer at the local college via a telephone line. Around that time lots of home computers became available. Each used a different operating system so games and applications for one would not run on another. They all had BASIC, but that would vary too. I lusted after various machines, but when the [BBC Micro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro) appeared it was very appealing, despite the high price. Unlike some others you had a proper keyboard and it had lots of interfaces. 

![Beeb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/BBC_Micro_Front_Restored.jpg)
Image from [Wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BBC_Micro_Front_Restored.jpg)

I had a lot of fun with that computer playing games I bought (or copied!) and writing my own programs. I read about fractals like the Mandelbrot set and decided to write my own version. I think it would take hours to generate an image like this, but then it had a 2MHz CPU and only 32kB of RAM, much less available when using high resolution graphics.

![Fractal](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Y66HohoqK3ZyL6Jv-KdCANmnJMxfs-3KxquJq8zd4c0art4ujwoKvhkBpusOXGXc_J2sgChd3ueXVQKbetlLyMXW6H3NTYZUijb7mwMDAiFnYHWyBUW2PVEe36fzOVmI-UXxI3iF6cTq1CuFsNLtiyKhLTrq4S-Vr5YvVtm03vUdDzyN9nNHBOEWQZLK_vbnWN6UNS_q5RDkKNVuWFrYYFFKqiR-gmkO8pj_oot81JIujlgyhUE-rIxa3IRckWoH8ST9HMYyCcAODNHlUiCvewb652K28O4TaKN9gIDkRZXQPWUNkPD0sZolHmBzzcdBmJu7WsjXdrHtNS6PtT4r_bMLcNElnVie8xtErXmzxOA0kzNCyJFc8twTCJ3gh3yV1R5SL2zFurvfOG0cGBmr1F0UBwqSOLLR98sWOeJH5qGnBAex2HuIJ6kVtwu2PaLteUJ4Dm_31QwqPsmoahjBdfqiSU0H_x88_raXKI4pYpD-R2FFvY5wb7yoW0zrWqbCvM_V33xyma-uqGc7o_4mX9I56khMs5K4Ec_47xv_aolAsFpxL9JEYSqhpkHwIcdhVGMIDmG7Nv7d0rtOAq1O09PjXiY-Xy7mql5ocJO2o3V7LzGygi6uzQ=w1161-h783-no)

I just read that the 'Beeb' is [35 years old](http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/10324-bbc-micro-turns-35.html). The manufacturer. Acorn, went on to develop ARM processors that are in many phones and other devices now.

I don't think the home computer scene has been the same in more recent decades. Most people don't write any programs themselves. The 80s were a time of experimentation that laid the foundations of my career as a developer and I think a lot of other people in my industry had the same start. I later went on to have an Amiga, but didn't program that as much. I've been getting back into some personal coding lately using Python.

What was your first computer?

![Verified](https://steevc.keybase.pub/steemit/steevc.png)