I noticed that Discourse issued me my third Anniversary badge this morning. In many ways, it feels like yesterday that @peli invited me over here after reading a post that I made on Yammer. I had written about how much fun I was having in MakeCode Arcade. Fast forward three years, and I’m having just as much fun today as I was in the very early days of beta testing. It’s a wonderful platform and I talk about it to anyone who will listen.
It’s wonderful to see that this community has grown and that it spans the globe. I’ve been able to speak in elementary French, even worse Spanish, and certainly abysmal Portuguese … made intelligible only with the help of Bing Translator. It’s also great to see familiar names who remain active in this community these three years later. I look forward to seeing MakeCode’s reach continue to grow.
I’m so happy that this platform exists. MakeCode - not just Arcade, but all of its forms - is such a broad canvas with infinite possibilities, which makes the platform so appealing to me. It has this rather unique potential to expand computer science literacy and to reach new talent for the next generation of computer scientists in much the same way that microcomputers, including my beloved Tandy Color Computer, reached out to talent in my generation. It’s something we lost as computers morphed from tools into appliances, and it’s been missing for far too long.
So, happy anniversary to us, MakeCode Forum! It’s been a great ride these past three years, and I have seen some amazing projects. I look forward to what’s in store from the developers and to all of the wonderful new projects that this community creates! Cheers, friends!
It’s anniversary time for me again! Another year on, and four years since being invited by @peli to join, and I continue to be amazed both by the work by the entire MakeCode team (at Microsoft and beyond) and by the work of all of you in this wonderful community. I’ve seen some wonderful projects yet again this past year. You all have grown so much!
I’ve been working a bit behind the scenes on a project for MakeCode Arcade, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to do so again, starting in a few weeks while we get some details ironed out. I have Scott Hanselman on my TV in the background building an Apple I clone on a breadboard,[1] so I have Microsoft happening all around me right now. Totally in my happy place.
I want to use this opportunity to say thanks to the amazing team at Microsoft for your continued hard work on this incredible platform. I feel like I don’t say it frequently enough to all of you. You all continue to inspire me every day.
Also, a great big welcome to all of you who have joined us in the past year. I hope you’re all learning a lot, and I hope you’re all proud of the progress that you have made! Writing computer programs can be frustrating sometimes, but I hope you’re recognizing how much you have learned since you started. Be sure to ask questions here if you run into any problems. You have a lot of people here who are happy to help!
Bon mardi gras à tous ! Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!
It’s also great to see familiar names who remain active in this community these three years later. I look forward to seeing MakeCode’s reach continue to grow.