I started programming in the early 80s, and started programming professionally in 1987. The biggest difference between early micros and PCs was that most early micros had better documentation in the box than the PCs did. For example, a C64 or a TI 99/4a had documentation that would take you from beginner to being able to access hardware features. The PC, on the other hand, you had to buy books from third parties to get that level of documentation. To be fair, the PC had a lot more going to document.