> My real, true first exposure to programming was Qbasic on a Windows XP machine, followed by real BASIC on a Commodore 64, then Java.

What’s the story behind your starting with Windows XP and then moving back to a Commodore 64?

For me, by the time Windows XP rolled around, my Commodore (128 not 64) was sadly long gone — given away at a garage sale by my parents while I was off at college.