Around 1980 I wire-wrapped a simple computer by following a book on Z-80 computer construction that I bought. The computer had only LEDs and pushbutton type switches for output and input. Next I splurged and made a Big Board computer with all of 64K in RAM, a real keyboard, a real CRT, and a couple of 8-inch floppy disks. I taught myself to program in C. Not being anything close to a full-time programmer, rapid shifts between computer systems and operating systems eventually exceeded my ability to keep up. However, I approach understanding computers with experience that goes all the way back to debugging mis-connected wire-wrapped terminals, semi-functioning chips in the Big Board, etc. In other words, I may have a more tactile understanding of some things that are abstractions that play nicely with logic to those who started with a super computer in a box.