hexmode
a buddy of mine has a decent thread going about what to teach children about programming I have submitted a comment that is awaiting his approval, but my suggestion was HTML/CSS and then JavaScript. I must admit this is not my sole opinion. A guy I work with is teaching his son web programming with JavaScript. However, I think this is a great idea. JavaScript and HTML/CSS will give the young person instant gratification. To me nothing is cooler to new comers than GUI dev, and HTML makes a nice way to introduce GUI concepts as well as the “Wow!” factor of making a text box on a field of blue :)
It should be noted that I don’t have any children…that I know of :)
Python is a great teaching language. You could ignore the OOP aspect of it for the most part, and make simple procedural scripts. Simple, clear, easy to read code.
Although I do agree that HTML would be good as a “pre-programming” lesson.
[…] Nate has a friend who will be teaching some kids about programming. He was wondering what he should teach them. Nate’s recommendation was HTML/CSS and then JavasScript. […]
[…] Nate had a blog entry about a friend who is teaching his kids programming. He thinks that HTML/CSS followed by Javascript is the way to go. I read the note a couple days ago and since then I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and I think bash scripting would be a good place to start. It is simple, but more representative of a programming language. HTML and CSS can be learned quickly and easily, almost by accident. The conditional statements are something that takes a bit of thinking. In addition, it will improve their Linux skills which will be benefitial all around (until they 0wn3z your b0x). Bash scripting would, hopefully, encourage the kid to think about the hardware. HTML/CSS are markup. Javascript is so platform agnostic that it almost seems too generic. […]
My elementary school had us learning Logo Writer in the 3rd grade. Logo is now obsolete, but it contained so much that a beginning programmer should know: variables, control structures, subroutines, etc. Plus, you could write subs to make the “turtle� draw cool stuff on the screen. We used an Apple IIc.
Thanks for the links, trackbacks and ping backs everyone.
Don, the interesting thing is that in a time long long ago, I too made the Apple ][e turtle logo stuff. Though at the time I had little interest. I didn’t realize that some 20 odd years later I would be a programmer :). At the time I thought…oh, neat, a typewriter with a screen instead of paper. We never did get a home computer while I was growing up, and I didn’t even realize I like computers until a few years ago. However in my foggy brain I have since remembered 6th grade computer class and the turtles :)
Depending on the age of the kids, I think Logo is a really fun idea. I have great memories of playing with that as a kid. :) The Logo Foundation has all the information you need to get started, including links to public domain and open source versions of Logo interpreters.
does this nate person happen to be nate josiah? if so, he has been hacking into my site.
Heh, no. My name, you may be shocked to learn…is Nathan Powell.