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  • From: Jim Allman <jim AT ibang.com>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] programming for kids
  • Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:33:57 -0500

On Mar 10, 2005, at 9:10 AM, Michael Best wrote:
My son has been nagging me to help him write some programs. I've already
gotten him started with some simple web page Javascript. But I was
wondering if anyone here has suggestions for teaching an 8-year-old how to
program (especially if he can make games).

Michael,

You might check out PyKarel, a Python implementation of Karel the Robot. This is similar to Logo; your commands drive a little robot through a visual world of mazes, walls, etc. Hm, apparently it's now called Guido van Robot:
http://gvr.sourceforge.net/screen_shots/

Also, I wouldn't sweat the "dead language" problem--he'll have time to pick time a few more languages ;) I'd recommend a dynamically typed, high-level scripting language (Python) to start with, since it's the quickest path from "what I want" to "what's happening in there." Unless your kid is hyper-focused, I'd try to keep the hurdles low in the beginning--no header files, arbitrary class/packaging requirements, etc.

And there are of course other languages designed just for teaching kids. There's an older one from MIT that looked really cool, but I can't recall the name... Dang.

=jimA=

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jim Allman
Interrobang Digital Media
http://www.ibang.com/
(919) 649-5760





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