Looks like Mark Pilgrim was a cute kid — he's programming at 11 in that picture, on an Apple //e no less.

He apparently took programming to a level I never did as a child, but he's not the only one who coded at an early age. We got our first computer when I was six, it was a Commodore 64 complete with carpal tunnel guaranteeing 3'' high keyboard (how my little hands fit on it I'll never know). I was coding BASIC — poorly — by seven. I think I wrote (copied) my first program out of one of those magazines that gave you pretested source code to use for the “hobbiest programmer.” Nothing stellar, but it sure was fun.

Now next time I head to my parents' house I've got see if there are any pics of my childhood self on the computer.