13
ern coffeemaker. But the Atari could be programmed to perform simple
tasks. Edward used it with a custom dial-up modem provided by his bank
to make mortgage payments electronically. He was so amazed by this
process, he told Karen that computers would revolutionize modern soci-
ety. She scoffed, pointing out that she could write three checks in three
minutes while it took him an hour of programming to get the primitive
Atari to make a single payment. Edward later recalled that due to its lim-
ited applications, the machine was “awful,” but he had few regrets about
buying it: “My lesson learned was not to be afraid to dabble in technology
early. Not to be one of those guys stuck waiting.”
9
Edward moved on to bigger and faster computers, but the Atari 800
would play an important role in the Facebook story. When Mark was six
years old, his father taught him to write computer code for the Atari. Ac-
cording to Edward, he bought Mark a book called
Atari BASIC Program-
ming
, but “ultimately his ability to program was self-taught.”
10
Compared to other home computers avail-
able at the time, such as the Apple II and the
Commodore PET, the Atari 800 offered advanced
graphics and sound capabilities. This made the
machine perfect for Mark, who loved playing the
early computer game
Star Raiders
. Released in
1979,
Star Raiders
was a space combat simula-
tor video game that allowed users to fight off an
invading fleet of alien Zylon spaceships.
By the time Mark was ten in 1994, Edward
had a much better computer, a Quantex 486DX,
which ran Windows 3.1. And Mark used the machine to become an expert
coder. While some kids were playing computer games, Zuckerberg was
creating them. As he later recalled, “I had a bunch of friends who were
artists. They’d come over, draw stuff, and I’d build a game out of it.”
11
Excelling in Computers
Edward wanted to support Mark’s programming talents, so he hired soft-
ware developer David Newman as a tutor. According to Newman, the
twelve-year-old Zuckerberg “was a prodigy. Sometimes it was tough to
“If you were going to say
no to [Mark], you had
better be prepared with a
strong argument backed by
facts, experiences, logic,
reasons. We envisioned
him becoming a lawyer one
day.”
8
—Edward Zuckerberg, father of
Mark Zuckerberg.
