Fascination with Computers

To me, fascination with computers started when I was studying 3rd standard.  All computers were based on the x86 architecture and MS-DOS was the first widespread operating system at that time.  The computers were manufactured by IBM and the processor cabinet was not like tower type available these days but flat types like HTPC.  The cabinet was so sturdy that one can place the monitor on top of it.  The mouse was yet to be invented as MS-DOS was not GUI-based operating system so no pointing device was required.  The only pointing device I could remember in my childhood is the Light Pen.  Light Pen was the second best example for input devices next to keyboard in our text books.  I have come across this Light Pen so many times but have never seen a real one.  A fair imagination of the light pen I have is the Stylus that is being used in Samsung Galaxy Note.   I think the processor was a 16-bit processor and the speed of the processor was 5MHz.  The removable media that was widely used during that time was the 5¼" Floppy Disk.

WordStar was the word processor application, equivalent of today’s MS-Word.  Remember there were no pointing devices so navigation and all actions like highlighting, changing to bold and italics were all controlled by combination of keys.  To state a few, Ctrl + E moves the cursor one line upward, Ctrl + F moves the cursor to the end of the current line and Ctrl + G deletes the character to the right of the current position.  An expert in WordStar application is said to know all these shortcuts in those times.  Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet application, equivalent of today’s MS-Excel.  Internet was yet to become popular for common use and so no email client application during my childhood.  The programming language I first learned was BASIC which is an acronym from Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.  It is a high-level language and the most common programming practice was to start every code with 10 REM.  REM stands for REMARK and the first line usually had a brief description of what the program is about.

The main source of my fascination towards computers was not these applications or programming language but games.  With a 16-bit processor of 5MHz speed, you could imagine how games would have been a thrill but you won’t believe that there was one particular game that was an obsession to me.  It is the Prince of Persia released

in 1989. I believe some of you would remember it or even relish those playing moments. The game starts with a story that a wizard named Jaffar takes hold of the kingdom of Sultan when Sultan is fighting a war in a foreign land. Jaffar takes captive of Sultan’s daughter and the prince, the protagonist of the game, must defeat Jaffar and free the princess. The player plays the prince role. The game is a 2D game and there are 12 levels in the game. There is a time limit of one hour to complete the game. Jaffar will appear only in the 12 level and in each level there will be spike traps, guillotines and swordsmen. In the first level, the prince has to get the sword so that he can fight the swordsmen and finally Jaffar. Defeating Jaffar will be the greatest challenge because he will strike you instantaneously unlike the obese swordsmen.

My best moment in the game is in the level 4 where there would be a mirror and the prince has to jump right through the mirror. The mirror would break to pieces and the prince will run through it but at the same time, a shadow of the prince will emerge from the mirror at the same time he runs through the mirror. It is the doppelganger of the prince. This is a plot device as the prince would be thrown in the dungeon because of the

doppelganger.   The doppelganger will appear in the level 12 where he will take a sword and will be ready to fight against the prince.  If the prince hits the doppelganger with the sword, he will lose one life and so does the prince.  If the prince pushes him down the floors, even then the prince will die. The only way is to make the prince put the sword and the doppelganger will also put the sword and then jumping into him, the prince and doppelganger will become one. And to solve this puzzle was really interesting. Since I studied in the same school where my father worked, I got easily access to the computers in the lab and this is how I was introduced to this game. I used to compete with the watchman at my school. He was a Nepali and he helped me to complete few levels in the game. Even though Prince of Persia has been upgraded into many versions, my fondness of the first version still remains the same as I had in my childhood.

These days gaming are becoming an addiction and cause for violence among kids and teenagers.  I have read news of gamer playing for straight 40 hours and end up dying, students becoming murders to buy PlayStation.  I believe a lack of awareness about gaming is the reason for this kind of news.  Though I was introduced to gaming when I studying 3rd standard, I was not overexposed to it because I had access to computers only in the free time of the school hours and this facility was available only till my 5th standard.  When I bought a PC during my final year of college, frequent gaming was only for a season or till I completed one game.  I strongly believe gaming should be part of education, causing an awareness of the pros and cons of gaming and regular surveillance from parents till they are matured enough to be aware of it.  As long as computers are existent, gaming will be an entertainment and fun to persons like me.