What is Digg?67 Comments
- speedk0re, on 12/30/2008, -6/+25i'd recommend LOLCode
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOLCODE - Danltn, on 12/30/2008, -6/+21Bah, just start 'em on C++, tough learning curve but if they succeed they'll be one of the best damned programmers ever, and if they don't - well, I hear McDonalds is hiring...
- maz2331, on 12/30/2008, -1/+13Too easy - make them write in Assembler first!
- babaoriley06, on 12/30/2008, -1/+12back in my day the only kid sized progamming language we needed was Logo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_lang ...
Had some good times telling that turtle where to go. - rumblestrut, on 12/30/2008, -4/+15I look forward to sharing Ruby with my daughter when she's old enough if she's interested and if there isn't something else more appropriate for her to start with. I love it.
- JonLatane, on 12/30/2008, -0/+10I'd say start them with C before you make them worry about OO. Certainly OO is a better model (for a lot of people) for managing large projects, but to do any of it, you need a handle on the imperative functional design that underlies it.
Although I'd probably just teach kids Python... - rebotfc, on 12/30/2008, -0/+9 I disagree, kids can learn better coding practices get quicker results by using a higher level language. ruby / python / even java or even cocoa / objective-c would make more sense than C.
- inactive, on 12/30/2008, -0/+7I sometimes am so dissappointed / upset that my parents weren't versed well in anything (except sport, for my father), and I had to wait to discover things like music and programming on my own. And I know I'd be much better at them if they'd introduced my toddler. It's not like they'd be forced... Kids quit things they don't like, so what? The things my parents did introduce me to, lacrosse and skating for hockey, I didn't care much for so I stopped doing. They didn't mind. I had to wait until I was in high school before I found sports and hobbies I enjoyed, like playing instruments, coding, running, and martial arts. Since I'm well versed in those things now, they'll probably be what I show my kids first... But I'll also try to introduce them to other things they COULD like at an early age, so they get good at them.
- DopeWeasel, on 12/31/2008, -0/+6Somehow I don't think most parents would want to start their child programming with *****...
- jejones, on 12/30/2008, -0/+6Maybe not, but we need people who know something about computers--just as, while not everyone should be a mathematician, everyone should know something about mathematics and especially statistics and statistical fallacies.
- oboy, on 12/30/2008, -5/+10It's funny because my wife's favorite toy as a child was named "Ruby". Now, my daughter's favorite "toy" may be called Ruby as well.
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………………………………………………………’’~-‘’_ , , ,,’,_/--‘ - jeepnut24, on 12/30/2008, -1/+6I can't wait to teach my daughter Python. With all of the packages out there she could do some neat work in no time.
- theOster, on 12/30/2008, -0/+5i'm no programmer, but i dare say that understanding the logic of computers in todays world would be an invaluable asset. also, starting at a young age, it would develop mental skills but most likely would not lead to the "nerd in moms basement" of those already socially awkward kids that found programming as a teen because they didnt relate to "normal" social interactions.
- glinsvad, on 12/30/2008, -0/+4I realize this is about open source, but why not just set them up with something cheap and fun like Lego Mindstorms. The graphical programming environment looks a lot like LabView, so it's a great way to get familiar with loops, if-cases and what-not. After that, hello Python and C.
- ohplease, on 12/30/2008, -0/+4
Logo on C64
Move that turtle! - tuxisawesome, on 12/31/2008, -0/+4I'm 13 and I'm reading a Ruby book right now.
- Lith25, on 01/01/2009, -0/+4I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to start programming with *****
- maz2331, on 12/30/2008, -0/+3Or *****....
- MattBD, on 12/31/2008, -0/+3Actually I keep hearing about how difficult it is for companies to fill vacancies for developers.
- rebotfc, on 12/30/2008, -1/+4wow, you really need to take your medication...
- MWeather, on 12/31/2008, -1/+4I find people who learn music theory first, play the best music.
- Gforce20, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2I still use Scratch from time to time. I was working on a rubix cube simulator, but I got bored with it: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/Jeremified/69384
- quaffapint, on 12/31/2008, -0/+2Logo on the AppleII was quite cool - I remember looking forward to those days we got to go into the 'computer lab' :)
- monkeyrun, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2nice it's like Logo for the 21st century.
- Ryosen, on 12/31/2008, -0/+2I just started teaching my 7 year-old Scratch this past weekend. She was absolutely thrilled with it and found it very easy to pick up on the OO concepts. For those not familiar with Scratch, it is a visual language and IDE where you create objects and script them using small blocks of code that connect to each other like little puzzle pieces. Very intuitive and very easy to learn. Main site here: http://scratch.mit.edu
- magoghm, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2There's also simpleJ: http://www.simplej.org
- dives425, on 12/31/2008, -0/+2its an age old argument as to whether to start learning with lower level languages 1st. I think it is better to learn C to understand C++ and java in greater depth, but others disagree.
- masonentingh, on 12/30/2008, -3/+5I am a 14 year-old freshmen in Java 2, and i must say Alice is a wonderful program for learning the basics.
- shotmonkey, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2I miss DIV Games Studio. I occasionally search for a torrent of it, but never have any luck. My CD was broken so long ago..
- inactive, on 12/31/2008, -0/+2That's a parenting problem, not an introducing kids to programming problem.
Also, VI? Real programmers use a magnetised needle and a steady hand. - bagboyrebel, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2We had to use Alic in our Into to CS class at OSU and I don't think there was a person in that room that didn't hate it by the end of the term.
- theOster, on 12/30/2008, -0/+2see jeepnuts comment
- elithrar, on 12/30/2008, -1/+2"Shoes" is particularly awesome - being both a GUI toolkit & sharing Ruby syntax conventions makes it quite easy for newcomers to pick up. Having both readable code and 'visual' results is a great thing when you don't want your students/children having to worry about a CLI, compiling or other things outside of actually writing code.
- ucuntu, on 12/30/2008, -0/+1I just wish I was born 10 years before for the programming aspect. When I was 5, my first console was a NES, I wish it was a Spectrum or something where you had to use BASIC to learn the fundamentals of programming.
I can barely script :( DAMN YOU MARIO! - jejones, on 12/30/2008, -1/+2Hmmm... if Scratch is based on Squeak, a Smalltalk VM-based system which runs on Linux, why does one need WINE to run Scratch on Linux?!
- nebev, on 12/30/2008, -0/+1I take it you're referring to SmallBasic?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.a ... - MozillaFirefox, on 12/31/2008, -0/+1I'm a "kid". So now I'm learning Python, and I know a little bit of Scheme. Anyways just get them to use something that's like Python or Ruby, not made for beginners but easy to learn, and used outside of learning. And the language should not make people go like "I'm so cool, because I can hello world". -_-
- censormagnet, on 12/30/2008, -0/+1neat they had some simple enough scriptable programmed called like hyperpage.. or hyperstudio .. some thing like that which was one of my first experiences programming, it seemed to be designed to be easy for kids to get into
now programming pays my bills ;) these new programs look like they will help the next generation get into programming/scripting pretty well - FearlessFreep, on 12/30/2008, -0/+1Hmm..I didn't even read the article but I was wondering if Smalltalk would come up. After your comment, I looked over at it...and I have the same question as you.
- RicktheBrick, on 12/30/2008, -0/+1I downloaded the program and every time I click on want help the program stops responding so I have to close it.
- Otnehs, on 01/01/2009, -0/+1Lego Mindstorms are not cheap :(.
- MattBD, on 01/01/2009, -0/+1I agree with your point about Visual Studio being too complex for beginners. I subscribe to the view that the last thing you want when learning a new language is a complex IDE to learn as well. I'd much rather use something like Vim.
That's why I think Python is such a good beginner's language - you can use any text editor you want, and even if you choose to use an IDE, then the main one is Idle which is probably the simplest IDE I've ever seen.
Nonetheless, with decent documentation, the likes of Visual Studio do at least mean you can get started with GUI programming very quickly. - glinsvad, on 01/01/2009, -0/+1Well, it's cheaper than buying LabView and some NI tech.
- Krissam, on 12/31/2008, -0/+1my personal order, seemed to work fine for me.
mIRC Scripts, due to a massive api, you're able to make useful stuff in just 1 line of code, yet still allows you to get a good basic idea about how algorithmic programming works.
Batch, had to write some hax bat files to play on wc3 on bnet with a nocd patch cuz my disc was *****.
PHP & SQL, had the design for an UT clan page, needed the php, so i said, i'ld have a look at it.
Bash... most useful so far :)
Atm, i'm learning C++ with QT4, it's a bit of a mouthful but it's going forward, maybe it's because it's a pretty big project to start out on (trying to write an opensource UtopiaAngel replacement, so i can get some of the best features on my linux laptop).
But i must say, the problem with learning programming isn't as much learning the language, more finding stuff to program which you can do with limited knowledge of the language. - Lith25, on 01/01/2009, -0/+1I've found 'Visual Studio' is usually way too complex for a beginner programmer. Just a simple command-line compiler will suffice in most cases.
That being said, I agree with your point. I was looking recently at maybe doing some iPhone app programming, and there doesn't seem to be a package as well put together as Microsoft offers for XNA. - MattBD, on 12/31/2008, -0/+1I'm from the tail end of the generation that grew up with the first generation of home computers (ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and Commodore 64), and I had great fun programming in BASIC as a kid of about 8 or 9. I had an Amstrad CPC 6128, and I used to spend hours entering BASIC programs from listings in magazines.
I really wish I'd kept it up though.
Now there's far better tools and languages for them to use. I'm learning Python, and I really love it. Vim is also a godsend as it makes you so much more productive. For those that want to do GUI programming, there are plenty of IDE's oriented towards that - it's very easy to make a basic paint application in Visual C#. Although I personally dislike IDE's, they can be better for GUI programming. - Lith25, on 01/01/2009, -0/+1C++ isn't that much different from other programming languages. The only "hard" thing about it is memory-management and pointers really. It's pretty easy to learn to program without ever having to use pointers.
I fully realize it may use a different syntax and structure; but as far as basic programming principles go, c++ is the same as most other popular languages.
edit: ok, templates and polymorphism might be a little difficult too; but again, the beginner will never need to use these. - KingCritter, on 12/31/2008, -0/+1They should have mentioned Guido van Robot, a very awesome app that teaches the basics of programming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Robot
http://gvr.sourceforge.net/ - MattBD, on 12/31/2008, -1/+1To their credit, Microsoft have a pretty decent set of tools for people interested in developing for Windows - Visual Studio Express Edition and XNA are pretty powerful, and they have good resources for learning to use them.
By contrast, Apple don't seem to have any resources for beginning programmers, they all seem to be aimed at encouraging existing programmers to switch. XCode is a pretty decent tool, and it comes with a load of documentation, but I haven't been able to find anything aimed at learning programming from scratch. That's a bit frustrating really because *nix in general is such a good environment for learning more about programming and computers. -
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