last night, on a very steep upward road, I forgot to depress the clutch when I stop the car and the engine stoped. This is normal because I'm a rookie driver. But the problem is that when I started the engine again, the car kept silent, even without the sound of the starter. when I turned the key, I couldn't feel any resistance. I tried several times but it didn't work. Finally, I though if I can reset it like resetting a computer? So, I pulled out the key, turned off all the lights, windshield wiper(it was rainning), got out of the car, and closed the door. Then got in the car, started again, and it worked!
I never heard any situation like this before. can anyone give me an explanation? There is a joke said the employee of Microsoft reset a car like resetting a computer to sovle the problem. The joke did work last night It sounds funny, isn't it? but it's true.

 

my car is 94 protege DX, 5-speed.