Comment Learning BASIC led me to a CS degree (Score 2) 709
I learned to program in BASIC, on an Apple ][+, back in the early 80's when I was 10 or 11. I loved it, but I started wondering how programs like word processors could access a large document in RAM, and work with files bigger than available memory, and other mysteries...which led me to learn C (with a classic Borland C compiler) at 15, and eventually to a CS degree.
In my case, BASIC (and I did LOGO too) didn't ruin me, it made me more curious and moved me into the more complex languages. When I got to college, data structures class was a piece of cake, as I'd already done linked lists and other structures while learning C, and I could easily deal with pointers and pointer arithmetic, multiple indirection, function pointers, and more. I feel a debt of gratitude to the humble BASIC language.
Just a couple weeks ago, I started teaching my son Apple BASIC from a web-based Apple BASIC emulator, hoping that he'll be as excited about programming as I was.