[Joeboy]

> My parents first made me work through the manual, which was how I started and fell in love with programming.

I guess given the complexity of modern PCs it's inevitable, but I feel like it's a great loss that computers no longer come with a book that explains how they work. I mean the ZX Spectrum manual not only documented every Basic keyword, it listed the Z80 ASM instruction set, giving you both the mnemonics and the bytes. Maybe Arduinos etc come with something equivalent (?) but the idea that a "home computer" would include that kind of information has been unthinkable for a long time.

[rsneekes]

> but I feel like it's a great loss that computers no longer come with a book that explains how they work.

That, and the fact it started with a basic "editor" begging for my input and then doing what I told it to seemed magic at the time.

My brother on the other hand, was only interested in playing games and didn't/doesn't care for programming.

[timthorn]

Indeed. Also that the Maplin catalogue no longer has full pinouts and mini datasheets alongside the chips they sell.