HyperCard is why I'm a developer today, and it's precisely because it was such an egalitarian tool. I was a (human) language geek as a child, but I loved using computers. I downloaded a bunch of neat stacks other people had made, and I was able to open them up and see how they ticked — eventually I realised that I could make my own stacks, and make the computer do things for me, too!

I do worry that HyperTalk ruined me in the same way the Dijkstra asserted BASIC ruined programmers of his era, but I have a good job and seem to write good software so I don't worry about it too hard.

I really worry for kids these days: JavaScript + HTML is nowhere near as friendly an environment as HyperCard was. What's a clever kid going to use as a programming environment now?