1982, my first year at Uni. Majored in general engineering, because I didn't know what I wanted to do. All first-year engr students had to take "Intro to CS", where we learned this weirdo computer language called "C". I realised I had a knack for it, and oh-my-god the sense of relief I had. I knew instantly that this was something I could do all day and not get bored. Switched my major and didn't look back. Still not bored.
Introduced to programming with the C language? You sir, your sir had it good. I wish I had learned C first. It would have made learning so much easier. Of course I learned c++ after a couple of years, so it could have been worse. I can't imagine learning Java as your first language. I would probably have quit programming after 10 days.
I'm going to write an extension that changes the word java to "death to man kind". It's insanely stupid. Insanely frustrating. Insane on all levels. Since I'm way more designer / front end I never truly understand why some languages were worse than others. But after a recent experience with a java platform / CMS thing - I totally get it. Absolute insanity.