The year was 1975. I was a junior at an all-boys Catholic high school in New Orleans. Mr. Landry, one of our math teachers, decided to offer computer programming as an elective. I decided to take it. Computer programming was done by typing on a teletype and saving programs to paper tape. My first BASIC program answered the question, “Given 3 numbers, can they be the sides of a triangle?” I was hooked. I decided to be a software kind of guy right there and then. I haven’t seen Mr. Landry since high school, and I do not know if he has passed on, but I certainly wish to thank him for changing my life.
My brother and sister attended Louisiana State University (LSU). Growing up, I thought would also attend. I had the football jersey and pennant on my childhood bedroom wall. When I decided to be a software kind of guy, my high school guidance counselor insisted that I check out a smaller school, what is now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, because it had a better…
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