[Coda]

The only reason I was that good at age 5 is because my dad was going back to school to get a second degree, and like most little boys I wanted to be like daddy. Instead of discouraging me because it was hard, he gave me the manuals and set me up a floppy disk and gave me the chance to try it on my own, answering my questions when I had them.

The dynamic changed over time. By the time I was 18, my dad was asking me questions. Not because I was a better programmer, but because we had specialized in different directions -- I knew user interfaces better, he knew databases better.