(c) 1998 Andrew C. Stone All Rights Reserved. I've been getting a lot of email from netizens who sincerely want to learn how to program, and since I have convinced them that Yellow Box rocks, they are asking me "How do I begin?" The answer of course depends on "How much money to do you have?" and by that, I mean "Isn't your programming education worth at least a mere fraction of what you paid for your last computer?" Your next step depends on where you're at now, so follow this pseudo program and dichotomous key to taking that step: 1: If you've never programmed a line of code before:       -> GO TO 2       -> Else GO TO 3 2: You are very lucky. It's easier to learn about object oriented programming if your head is not preconditioned with Fortran, BASIC, etc. I recommend that you learn JAVA or Objective C directly. If you can find a course locally, that may be the support you need, or grab Charles Perkin's & Laura Lemay's "Java in 21 Days", which is an excellent introduction to object oriented programming.       -> CONTINUE to 3. 3: You are ready to learn Yellow Box, select according to budget:       -> GOOD: GO TO 4       -> BETTER: GO TO 5       -> BEST: GO TO 6 4: GOOD       -> Read free Web available tutorials:             Apple Computer on Rhapsody             Stone Dev Corner             StepWise                    -> Get a NeXTSTATION or compatible PC       -> learn the development environment known as "Prelude to Rhapsody"        (OpenStep for MACH 4.2, which runs on SPARC, Motorola, and INTEL) 5: BETTER       -> All of 4 but find an 8600 PPC as a development box       -> Join the Apple Developer Connection "Select" program $500             this enable you to get Rhapsody DR 2 and CR1 releases.       -> Read all the online documents in the latest release       -> Copy the Developer Examples to your home directory             Read and understand the source code             Play with the InterfaceBuilder files             Build the apps             Add new features to those apps 6: BEST       -> All of 5 but find a G3 and load with memory       -> GO TO WWDC! Next week - live and direct from the Apple Computer's World-Wide Developers Conference. See our newly decorated web site to understand why this week's issue is so short!