Got my first computer in late '98 (I was 19). Wanted to learn programming by myself some time later in '99. There was this big hype about Java's total world domination and VB was/is so widespread, so tried them first without much luck. I was bored using/learning them actually. Then some time in 2000 I've discovered the now dead UBB forum software. UBB had these so called "hacks". We call them "plugins" nowadays. I did not know a thing about programming but was modifying these hacks and even developing some by the copy-paste technique :) At some point I've decided that I can't go further without actually learning the language itself and bought a *very bad* book (which eventually went to trash). Then discovered the O'Reilly books in the university library and I really started learning Perl. It was hard at the beginning and the UBB experience did not help much since it's code was a real cr@p and I did not have much friends interested in Perl and the available ones are not interested in it deeply. But anyway, I really enjoyed using Perl tried more and more to master it and still trying to improve my skills and of course enjoying writing Perl :)