my son is facinated (or was facinated) by fractals and other recursive numbers. he did a westinghouse science competition paper on the subject (some 15 +years ago)
(the competetion is now run by intel, not westinghouse)
at the time we had a TI99-4A computer, with non WYSIWYG word processing software.
i was the champ at formating, he typed, i formated.
and in the process, i learned a good deal about fractals.
(he enter the competition because his father pressured him, but he was pleased in the end when he won an honorable mention. (there are thousands of those awarded))
i remember graphic software, the kind you speak of, being available--some of it was available on floppies.(this is long ago, in the dawn of time)
we had some--and its was stuff you could boot to your computer--we also had software (that fit on 1 floppy) for making RDA-(random dot astiagrams)--better known as magic eye images-you know the kind that if you look at them crooked, they appear to be 3D images. i think i still have a copy of the RDA software.. but i don't know if it would work with modern OS's.
i was a bit parinoid--i didn't want my son to have internet access at home.. i was afraid of what he might/could do. i had access(limited)at work, he waited till he got to college (and was nominally an independant adult. --over the age of 18, and not living at home!) before he had an internet on ramp.
(he now is a web master for an internet active company)
