It's been a long time since I've really smiled while programming.  Fortunately, I've recently had the joy of being able to rewind myself to back when I started programming in 1997.

Let me explain.

At work, we've been looking to hire a PHP programmer that knows their stuff.  Since we've just started interviewing candidates and we already settled once for someone that won't be with us in the development area, I felt it was my duty to have some artillery for the interview process.  I was able to come up with some simple challenges that address core concepts I expect someone to know if they're going to be able to work on our project (thanks to Jeff Atwood and Steve Yegge).

In the midst of all of this, I came across some badly written C++ code that made me think about the joy I had programming in that language back in college.  Now, having access to Visual Studio 2010, you might think I started to work on some simple programs in my long lost love language, but instead I diverted myself and started learning Python. I really recommend grabbing a copy of Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python - Second Edition (available as a free PDF) and spending time just getting re-acquainted with how simple programming can be.  Truthfully, it feels like I'm back in high school learning to program with Turbo Pascal all over again.