How it all started - Programming

How it all started:

When I was 17, I used to hang out with my next door neighbor Jim, who went to UC Irvine. We used to get high and play cards or pinball at the student union. Then we'd go over to the computer lab for some all nighters, playing a text version of Star Trek on professor's accounts that Lurch had hacked into.

I didn't find computer games very interesting. I was a pinball wizard. ...Fireball was my favorite. But I loved getting high and hanging out with the older kids, especially my friend Jim, whom we called "Lurch" because he was 6'7" and skinny. I was 6'4" and skinny and hi called me "Clyde".

I would play the Star Trek game a little, but it would usually crash at some point and I'd have to ask Lurch how to restart it. It was written in some variant of BASIC and he would say "just type run" to restart it.

One night, I asked him what else I could type and he said "type list".

That simple command, together with "edit", opened up a whole new world to me. It is still one of the best games I've ever played.

Thanks Lurch.