Advice on how to help an 11 year old start programming...
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Logo ? they were teaching that to 10 and 11 year olds when i was in high school.
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Well, there's Microsoft's XNA[^] and Microsoft Robotics[^] and then there's the Lego part: Mindstorm NXT[^]
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Lego Mindstorm?
Todd Smith
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
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HasCanvas[^] No installation, available in any modern web browser, simple language, graphics-oriented.
All I get when I click that link is a message "SORRY" :~
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Start him out with C. That's truly the best way to get the kid ready for real programming.
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Basic stamp kit[^] from Radio Shack. 11 might be a bit young for this but if he's motivated and thinks he may be in to robotics it just the ticket. You get a load of stuff for the money -- led display, blinky lights, sensors, switches and dials... I think you can also get it direct from Parallax via the web. The programming is plain Basic and the book it comes with it is really well done. After the first chapter you'll have a set of blinking diodes amongst a rats nest of wires and chips. Real mad scientist stuff. The initial setup will need some assistance to get the software installed and the com port set up (you will need a USB to serial adaptor if there isn't a serial port on his PC), but after that it is completely self contained. You should get one for yourself too :)
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All I get when I click that link is a message "SORRY" :~
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Python. Easy to learn, lots of nice libraries that are easy to install. [edit]And for quickish gratification, this[^] might be suitable? Of course, my instant gratification with Python came from the nice JSON and HTTP libraries. I'm not a geek...really[/edit]
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
at age 11, throw him C++ or c# or java. start out with console apps. work the way up. Anything with a games theme. as for plaform. there is c++ compilers out there. One can also get Visual studio c#/vb/and website developer from the MS site download ( heavily watered down, but will do the trick.
///////////////// Groucho Marx Those are my principals, if you don't like them… I have others.
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I am using the most modern one there is[^] and have no intention of installing additional ones.
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Assembly! It isn't as hard as people make it out to be. There is no syntax to learn. And the nmemonics, well, before you know most of them you could just look them up, it's supposed to be a learning process anyway, right? And the best thing is that you can start writing it without knowing anything yet. You can learn it very incrementally and gradually (instruction by instruction and a few addressing modes in between), unlike high level languages where all features are "big" and you need to know a lot already to even begin programming in them. And if he wants to become a serious programmer the assembly knowledge will help him write efficient code.
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I am using the most modern one there is[^] and have no intention of installing additional ones.
Meh. No canvas for you then. ;-)
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Assembly! It isn't as hard as people make it out to be. There is no syntax to learn. And the nmemonics, well, before you know most of them you could just look them up, it's supposed to be a learning process anyway, right? And the best thing is that you can start writing it without knowing anything yet. You can learn it very incrementally and gradually (instruction by instruction and a few addressing modes in between), unlike high level languages where all features are "big" and you need to know a lot already to even begin programming in them. And if he wants to become a serious programmer the assembly knowledge will help him write efficient code.
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
Well I started out on C64 BASIC when I was 4. I'm thinking some kind of BASIC - it kind of encourages laziness but being easier to learn at least it might keep their interest longer. I'm not sure what modern tool is best though, VB.NET is pretty much the same as C#. Maybe something like darkbasic or blitz basic to do a game - not that I've ever used them. *shrugs*
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
lego mindstorm it costs a bit but he's probably got loads of lego kicking about and it can be programmed in a few different languages
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I kinda like this idea... give him an appreciation for what goes on under the hood, while laying the foundations for a healthy appreciation of the time and effort saved by high-level languages... :) Maybe something other than x86 assembly though.
Yea x86 is very hairy :) How about z80? It's pretty clean but still related (like a cousin) to x86 (so the jump isn't that hard when he makes it) And there would probably be a z80 in his graphical calculator when he gets one (TI 83/84 etc have z80) so it has an "obvious use" Or ARM? A bit harder than z80 but his cellphone probably has an ARM processor.. edit: there is a nice homebrew IDE for z80 (geared towards TI's a bit - ships with a TI 83+ emulator/debugger) with syntax highlighting and all called Latenite[^]
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I was talking to my sons soccer coach last night before their game and my vocation came up. She said that her 11 year old son wants to learn to program computers, and asked if I had any advice to help him get started. What would you have said? He has an interest in robotics and games. To my knowledge he has zero programming experience or training. Something cross platform and very inexpensive (free) would be best. Instant gratification with a simple 'install' process. (I may be underestimating his abilities. I think he's pretty smart.) Ideally, my involvement in this wouldn't extend past the initial push in the 'right' direction. Thanks for the advice!
http://www.gameroo.com/games/light-bot?r=nl[^] :-D In my opinion, learning such a discipline requires a teacher/mentor. Imagine the results of handing someone a book on tennis, a racket, and a ball. Without proper feedback, the student will be stunted, witness the programming fora here. Also, books I've seen don't begin at the very beginning. I suggest you devise a few very simple introductory problems to be solved (e.g. add two integers and display the result) to whet his appetite and guage his aptitude. (Were I doing it I'd start the kid out with a text editor and command line, but that's just me.) Is the mother hot? :cool:
