Ever since I wrote my first BASIC program for one of father's homespun computers back in 1982, I've been hooked on computer technology in general and programming in particular.

For some years, my goal was to become an expert in all programming languages. Eventually I came to realize just how many there are and scrapped that ambition, but I still like to learn new ones when possible.

Among my favourite languages I count Java, C++, C and Smalltalk. Assembly language is another clear winner, particularly for the (now rather outdated) Motorola 680x0 family.

Operating systems are also on my short list. The Amiga was my Computer Of Choice for several years. It had many nice features, one being that the kernel could be rewritten, since it was stored on disk (for some models). It was also fully multitasking long before the other comparable machines. Now I've moved to the PC, which gives more value for money. It is also ideal for experimenting with operating systems. I'm currently running Linux, a variety of Windows versions, OS/2 and DOS.