I learn programming since 15, but i realy do programming during my free time recently when i'm an undergrad student. I'm a i spent my time observating animal; measuring plant, trees, and microclimate; analyzing gene expression or culturing microbe on college. There's no need to do programming seriously, so i write code just for fun, solving project euler or other problemset.
I previously thought that Node.js are for those who have advanced skill on web development and scripting, not for newbie. But reading this article that started with use of shabang on a script and setting file permission for executable file, i think i was wrong.
I did the same, used textile before markdown and i use it on textpattern. yes, the code's syntax is was annoying so i prefer to use html instead of textile for code's. I still more familiar with the textile compared with markdowns.