For a lot of kids (myself included), the deepest and strongest desire was not to code, though that's how the effort can manifest. The desire is to then show the end result to someone (often a parent/authority figure) for recognition. It comes right back to the relationship dynamic, and this can be an intensely strong motivator.

As I matured, coding eventually became my own thing, and I started to enjoy it as something I could escape to that nobody around me really had to understand. But when I first started dabbling in it, you bet my Dad heard just... hours, and hours, and hours of my rambling. Mad props to him for listening, even if in hindsight I realize he barely had any interest in the subject and found it hard to keep up. You did good, Dad.

Interesting thoughts.

Makes me realize I never wanted to learn to code. I never set out for it. I want to learn to code things now, but back then? I wanted to make an executable that did something. Sometimes it was a game. Sometimes it was some weird graphical screen saver like thing. Coding was just to make it happen. That became something interesting too, eventually.

It is something we as programmers forget. Why we did it in the first place. It usually shows up when those analyst show up and want some program. Cant they see how amazing our code is? /s When what they want is a program that does something.

He might. When I was around that age, I had an Atari that had a feature where you could write your own code. I think it was sort of a version of basic.

I made primitive games. They weren’t much more than shapes and colors and sounds, but I was able to make it do things. And that was before there was an internet where I could find help. I didn’t know anyone who had ever written a line of code.

I think one might be surprised what a 9 yr old boy could do these days programming.