About this episode

This episode explores the transition from playing games to programming machines, highlighting personal memories and the importance of coding for kids.

In Part 1 of From Atari to AI , we talked about Atari, arcades, joysticks, cartridges, and the magic of playing the game. But in Part 2, something changes. This episode is about the moment technology stopped being something we only played with and became something we could create with. Mr. Fred shares memories of learning to program on the Timex Sinclair 1000, receiving a BASIC programming book from one of his mother’s coworkers, building a text adventure game with a friend, saving code on cassette tapes, and later experiencing the Apple IIe in a high school computer science classroom. Along the way, we explore why that blinking cursor mattered so much. A game console said, “Here is the game. Play it.” A computer said, “Here is the machine. Tell it what to do.” That shift from player to maker is at the heart of this episode and at the heart of GetMeCoding. In this episode: The difference between playing a game and programming a machine Why the blinking cursor felt like an invitation Memories of the Timex Sinclair 1000 Learning BASIC from an old-school programming book Building a text adventure game on Saturday mornings Saving code on cassette tapes The Apple IIe and turtle…

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