I really don't recall what my first program was (that I didn't just type in from a book). I remember the posh computer mags those days sometimes came with cassette tapes, so you didn't have to type in those 8k programs.

The only thing I remember programming is that at some point, I wrote an assembler of sorts for the Vic-20's 6502. I used that to help me write a "galaga" style shoot-em up game (I flatter myself ... it presented a field of moving "stars" that scrolled down the screen, and you could move through the field and shoot an occasional target that scrolled down but couldn't move left-to-right). Now, I bet I couldn't do anything nearly as 'sophisticated' without a lot of work =)

Philosophy can be made out of anything. Or less -- Jerry A. Fodor