I remember first time I used a computer. 1997, at a typist's place, writing my name on Paint, and jumping with joy.
And my father brought a PC in 1998. He, actually had it in mind since a long time, ever since his trip to England, where he saw how omnipresent the device had become, almost comparable to God over there.
In India, nothing much. Nobody still recognized its use. They found it'd corrupt their children with illegal content, hence families usually never invested in it. As you know, the news of misuse succeds that of productivity by miles. But my father knew its uses, and after months of planning got it after summer vacations. It was joy time for me!!
But I was computer illeterate. When my computer vendor asked what I'd like to have in it, I said give me some games, some multimedia, and thats it. I knew nothing much. And I found the right click that used to bring display panel for screensavers, backgrounds, etc a month after compu was installed. It was a miraculous discovery for me. I kept taking tidbits of info from friends about what device prices were, and troubling them with names of dll files my computer couldn't find, when a simple install of DirectX would've solved it. And time passed. I grew. I did nothing much for 2 years, others than getting familiar to games, windows, and smut.
It all changed when my friend was discussing computer languages with others when I was in Xth. He said C++ is a big language, and it takes yrs to master it. I argued and ended up betting I could do it in an year. The same day I brought a book on it, without having any info on any title or author. I sifted thru the pages, and kept the book in the shelf. It started str8away with concept of OOP.
After a few months, I installed a HTML edting software from a mag just out of curiosity. I ran it, and from the menus was able to put a picture on the page, with some background music. Thrilled!! I took a look at the code, the tags, and consulted a friend who already was a MCP (and he proudly flaunted it in school). He didn't help much. Just challenged me to throw up some tag names, which I did, even tho in unorthodox pronounciation. But I continued, and looked up for material over the net. Found loads of it, and came grow good at HTML. A little CSS accompanied.
I really took up C++ when I was in 11th, and it was mandatory in the course. I brought beginner level books ,and read thru the history, the principles, the working of it as fast as I could. And soon I was competing among the best in class. But it wasn't my meagre knowledge of C++ that put me in eyes of my teachers, it was Flash. After I won some competitions, the goaded me to gain more skills in C++. In 11th, I won in Flash and HTML events, and learned in programming ones. 12th was really good for me. I learned C++ a lot. I won many events, in Flash, C++, Web Designing and Gaming. The kid teachers used to send in other team, whom they considered had a golden touch, came down like rock, winning nothing the whole year. But I still consider him more skilled and logical than I am. He plans for MIT thru SAT now.
And then came an easy year of college. I still was nowhere near to geek. I didn't even know properly what a Graphics Card was, what Linux really was and what DDR meant. Soon I took up to living hours over the net, searching for info and new sites. I left my liking for sleaze. And that really really helped (and also got me loads of scolding for heavy dialup bills). I truly felt ecstasic when a conversation about computers popped up among the illeterate as well as literate majority. And thatadded to lots of victories in quizzes, programming, gaming, web designing, multimedia competitions. Becasue I knew much more. But I never did it for glamour purposes.
I am a novice in the field, still under training from the gods of the net. And my aim is still far far ahead. But don't underestimate this determined soul.
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