As a teenager, I stumbled upon my passion for computers when my family got our first PC. Without internet access, I had to rely on books to feed my curiosity, but finding resources in Farsi was a challenge.
Luckily, my older brother had a computer programming course at school, and I dove into his textbook. It led me to the QBasic. QBasic's built-in help became my lifeline, guiding me through the basics.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that QBasic wasn't the only programming language out there—C was a powerhouse! Serendipity struck again when I stumbled upon a fantastic translation of a C programming book. Later I learned that it was a standard textbook in the academic field of Computer Science. I was 15 at the time.
I read that book cover to cover, mastering C and later delving into x86 Assembly. But, of course, there were still mysteries to solve. How could I draw animations on the screen without that annoying flicker? Trial and error became my teacher—a tale for another time.
Fast forward to the age of internet enlightenment. As a real software developer, sites like StackOverflow became my holy grail of knowledge.
Decades later, a few days ago, I found myself crafting a terminal app, wrestling with poorly documented curses library and ancient terminal protocols. In a moment of desperation, I thought, why not ask ChatGPT? And just like that—bingo! It saved me hours of tedious research.
Reflecting on how information access has transformed over just two decades leaves me in wonder. I'm grateful for the journey so far and eagerly anticipate where the next two decades will take us.