Learning programming - 6th grade
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It is my nature, accept it.
Will you please take your argument to the backroom or are you going to make me feel bad for having shown a little support for you?
“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell
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Blocked at work; have to wait to get home to look at that :sigh:
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
Oh, it's Lightbot; a time-waster that been posted here before.
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I'd recommend Visual Basic .Net. It uses a massive runtime, but it's close enough to real words for him to be able to speak it, and has enough room for him to expand into C# and C++ if he wants.
OSDev :)
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
The child could get involved with First Lego League www.usfirst.org and preferrably use RoboLab (LabView) for programming. Outside of FLL they can use NQC (for the RCX) or NXC (for the NXT). Also check out www.alice.org Jay
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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Ugh... Leave it. :)
“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I would suggest a version of BASIC. I got into programming by learning BASIC (in QBASIC) from a couple of books I found at my elementary school library back in 2nd grade. Ah, old-times... I had my first PC in 1994, running DOS + Win3.11 for Workgroups (does anyone remember that?). On my birthday my dad got me MS Flight Sim 5.1 on floppy disks :-D That got me more interested in programming, and then I found a couple of really cool books at the school library. One was blue and thin and it was about writing BASIC programs - but with a storyline that you are stuck on Mars in a spaceship and writing the programs to help you out of your predicament. The other was yellow, with a plastic cover, and thick, and had all kinds of goodies, including programs in which you made a "rocket" on the screen by printing out empty lines to make ASCII-art go up, and other programs that were more like riddles or novels with questions that the "user" answered. I also learned to use QBASIC's built-in help system. One of the first programs I wrote on my own was a simple adder that helped me cheat on my math homework. Then in 5th grade, one day, my dad got me a Java book, Teach Yourself Java in 21-days. I was hooked immediately and even read it by hiding it in my desk during classes at school :-D Soon afterwards I got the book Black Art of Java Game Programming. Ah, good times! That's how I found out about C. The Java book mentioned it. So then we got a book called "Windows Programming for Dummies" and that's how I got into programming with C. I also got a book that came with a Visual C++ 1.0 CD, and another about Windows Game Programming that taught how to use WinG ;) After that, I got interested in graphics and 3D graphics and did lots of little experiments with graphics mode 13h and BIOS keyboard functions, VGA registers and palettes and banks, and all that good stuff, by learning stuff off the web. Anyone remember Andre Lamothe? I really learned C and ASM once I got into operating system programming. I learned web programming and some scripting stuff relatively recently. So something like the above "path" might be the way to go...
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I would recommend Liberty BASIC, for Windows. It's what got me started on programming in middle school. LB is interesting in that it's BASIC, with a classic BASIC syntax, but it's also got access to the entire Windows API. The only current programming concept it can't teach is Object-Oriented programming, which is not for beginners, anyway. A free version, Just BASIC, is available, but slightly less powerful. http://www.libertybasic.com http://www.justbasic.com
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I would say a version of BASIC is a good place to start. I was programming in basic when I was in 2nd grade though so you may actually want to find something more relevant. By sixth gradeish I was doing C++ and assembly. Its part of the balance of their personality. You don't want them to get frustrated or bored and walk away, but you don't want to make things too easy so they believe real programming is that easy. I think the MOST important part of programming is learning the structure. I was really bad with structure and I don't even think about it when I start writing a small app. The result is I usually miss a key structural element and just do a whole rewrite or two. I'd recommend getting a good flowchart program and encouraging him to plan it out thoroughly before touching the keyboard. Then let him pick what he uses, there are so many free compilers, but the more industry relevant the better I think. Honestly, I use FreeBasic all the time. The runtimes are the fastest I've seen for basic and if I'm just trying to figure out a math concept, I run home to my language mommy. (One of the things I was always interested in but didn't have the money to do till I was older was micro controllers. They have the same gratification as the flashy graphics, but for some reason I always learn more. I think that may be another good place to start learning programming.)
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Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
- Allow staying up late to compilesurf pron
FTFY :laugh:
------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.. but it ROCKS absolutely, too.
Have you been spying on me? :suss:
“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell
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Right. I just did some perl a couple of days ago. Pretty simple and free. :)
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
Lego NXT! If you're not familiar, it's a lego robot. The programming is a high level visual block programming. So you programming with a flow chart, there loops decisions etc... you can actually create some pretty complex stuff. I think it's great to learn the concepts of how applications work. From there you can find C and C++ compilers for it, and I believe even a .net version. My nephew is has been obsessed with the thing for years now.
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
Perhaps you are looking for the wrong answer... Don't look for a programming langauge to start off with, Start off with html. Get a beginner book to build a website. Only notepad would be required, and a copy of an internet browser. Get them to build their own website with pictures and all. That would be a good simple start. Getting a copy of something like expression web 2 ( 3 is out now so you should be able to get a cheap copy of 2 ).... is a wisiwig designer for web pages too. Leraning html / css for web pages, can then lead to asp.net ( web page programming using vb.net / c#.net ). Cheers' Miro
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I'd suggest SmallBasic as a first language.
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
In the old days, I think "Logo" was the language the really young programmers were learning with: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I started programming in 5th grade with C++. Yeah. Find some old textbook, or get "Beginning programming for dummies". thats how i started. Good luck!
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
I recommend either Phrogrom (small cost but uses .NET with Intellisense and uses Sprite concepts in a simple ay to make it easy to write interesting games) or Python (free, multi-paradigm with nice syntax and no irritating decorations - poweful lists and dictionaries)
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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This came from a friend this morning: One son is really interested in learning programming. Do you know of any resources for kids to learn on their own ? Not much offered in the 6th grade in our schools. What languages are most people using these days…..or I should say what appears to be the future trends for development ? What would you recommend for a setup if someone wanted to start in terms of hardware and software to start building code and/or websites ? I would suggest Turbo Pascal but I don't think any computers accept the 5 1/4" floppy that I have it on. :) Seriously though, I haven't given it much thought lately. I even looked at some old posts and articles. I'll send the link that came in the CP e-mail this morning http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10375115-2.html[^] , one or two pieces might be useful. Any other ideas?
SS => Qualified in Submarines "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill "Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
In a computational physics class I took, we used True Basic[^] to implement physics algorithms. It was OK in terms of using a BASIC-based language. It looks like it has a demo version you can download, but it terminates after 15 minutes of use. If you want to go the C++ route, You Can Do It! - A beginner's introduction to Computer Programming[^] by Francis Glassborow & Roberta Allen has a pretty positive review. I've never actually looked at the book so I can't give a personal endorsement.
-- Marcus Kwok