Apps for teaching kids programming
-
I started programming when I was 8 :-O
NERD! ;P
-
Still exists, still costing a fortune. :) And yes I might, if he keeps his interest. Just realized they have an app that doesn't need the physical lego, I have a look at that.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
NERD! ;P
My first program ever (Basic, Amstrad 6128) was a small database named "Cave à vin", for my father, to keep track of the bottles of wine in our cellar (all 25 of them :laugh: ). If that's not French ... :rolleyes: It had an opening splash screen with a bottle of wine filling an empty glass, animated. Which was about 85% of the code. :-D
-
OK, fair enough. (My daughter, 15, looks at what I do and is in horror at the sheer complexity of it! :) )
It's obviously not for everyone, especially not the under the hood stuff you do. How did you get into that by the way?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
My first program ever (Basic, Amstrad 6128) was a small database named "Cave à vin", for my father, to keep track of the bottles of wine in our cellar (all 25 of them :laugh: ). If that's not French ... :rolleyes: It had an opening splash screen with a bottle of wine filling an empty glass, animated. Which was about 85% of the code. :-D
Rage wrote:
splash screen with a bottle of wine filling an empty glass
For a splash screen it shouldn't have all ended up in the glass. ;P
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
-
It's obviously not for everyone, especially not the under the hood stuff you do. How did you get into that by the way?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Yes, I suppose what I do doesnt look fun or funky, has no UI. I guess I naturally gravitated to the low level stuff, I found it much more challenging and interesting. My second job was writing a driver for Windows. I only got it because there was no one around any more capable than I was, and I had no idea, I was just in the area, looking for a new role, and had a couple of years doing low level user mode stuff in windows. :)
-
My first program ever (Basic, Amstrad 6128) was a small database named "Cave à vin", for my father, to keep track of the bottles of wine in our cellar (all 25 of them :laugh: ). If that's not French ... :rolleyes: It had an opening splash screen with a bottle of wine filling an empty glass, animated. Which was about 85% of the code. :-D
I am impressed! THats pretty good for an 8 year old.
-
The question has been up before, but things change and it's time to see if there are any new programs around worth looking at. My kids are seven and eight and have finished Lightbot. What's your recommendations?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
u can get them a ps4 or xbox and let them play games...or give them their own computers with VR sets .... i'm sure they will love it...
Caveat Emptor. "Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
-
u can get them a ps4 or xbox and let them play games...or give them their own computers with VR sets .... i'm sure they will love it...
Caveat Emptor. "Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
Nintendo will do I hope.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
The question has been up before, but things change and it's time to see if there are any new programs around worth looking at. My kids are seven and eight and have finished Lightbot. What's your recommendations?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
I got this a few weeks ago: Homepage | Minecraft: Education Edition[^] To be honest didn't checked yet...
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018
-
The question has been up before, but things change and it's time to see if there are any new programs around worth looking at. My kids are seven and eight and have finished Lightbot. What's your recommendations?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Take a look at this overview: https://www.slant.co/topics/243/~best-ways-to-teach-a-beginner-how-to-program[^] And for books: https://www.slant.co/topics/1531/~beginner-s-books-for-programming[^] :-\
-
The question has been up before, but things change and it's time to see if there are any new programs around worth looking at. My kids are seven and eight and have finished Lightbot. What's your recommendations?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
Yes, I suppose what I do doesnt look fun or funky, has no UI. I guess I naturally gravitated to the low level stuff, I found it much more challenging and interesting. My second job was writing a driver for Windows. I only got it because there was no one around any more capable than I was, and I had no idea, I was just in the area, looking for a new role, and had a couple of years doing low level user mode stuff in windows. :)
Munchies_Matt wrote:
I guess I naturally gravitated to the low level stuff,
Are you that fat? ;) ;P :-D
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
-
Munchies_Matt wrote:
I guess I naturally gravitated to the low level stuff,
Are you that fat? ;) ;P :-D
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
Gravity and I have an intimate relationship.... Actually no, I chose my pen name from the two atomic bombs, fat man and little boy. Plus fat boy is an affectionate name in Cantoneese (my wife lived there many years and speaks it fluently. SOmething like 'faizai', at least that is how it sounds to me. :) ) I am not particularly overweight, for a 50+ year old programmer at least!
-
The question has been up before, but things change and it's time to see if there are any new programs around worth looking at. My kids are seven and eight and have finished Lightbot. What's your recommendations?
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
I recommend checking out Zachtronics' puzzle games, they're very much programming in disguise. I'd start with Infinifactory as it's learning curve is the least steep. They're all hard and great fun. Depending on the kids' history with games and computers they might get into the harder ones (like Shenzhen I/O and TIS100).[
Here's an article on this
](http://gregorulm.com/programming-game-review-spacechem-2011-by-zachtronics/)[^] But keep in mind - quote :
Sometimes people mention SpaceChem as a good game to introduce people to programming. I would not recommend that at all because an introductory programming course is laughably easy in comparison. If anything, it is a game you may want to introduce a subset of programmers to.
-
The old classic Lego computer: The LEGO Turing Machine - YouTube[^] The Lego version is fun. Yet I will say that my favorite Turing machine, certainly aestetically, but the handiwork iw even more impressing, is Mechanical Turing Machine in Wood - YouTube[^]
-
The old classic Lego computer: The LEGO Turing Machine - YouTube[^] The Lego version is fun. Yet I will say that my favorite Turing machine, certainly aestetically, but the handiwork iw even more impressing, is Mechanical Turing Machine in Wood - YouTube[^]
Very impressive :D There's a few 3D printers that do LEGO-blocks well. Might be a good investment :)
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
-
I started programming when I was 8 :-O
Quite a few games for kids are programming, even though not done typing programming language statements into vi on a linux machine. I really dislike that "learning programming" idea. What you should learn is "methodologies for problem solving". That is "programming without Linux or vi". And you see that in a lot of children's games. I have no worries about emphasizing that aspect in children's activities. An old example: My bookshelf holds a 1950s book for boys: A forest manager and his two sons, attacking the problem of how to build a cabin out in the woods - the planning of the entire operation, getting the materials, transport, and setting it up. Is is wrapped up in so much nature and forest, watching animals, fighting with the rowboat... A ten year old will read it as a wildlife adventure story. Without noticing, he will also learn a lot about how to approach a large problem, how to solve it. I didn't read the book myself until I read it to a nine year old daughter (she's visually handicapped; that's why I read it to her), and she loved both aspects of it. And I learned a lot about how to build a cabin! You can take a similar approach in a lot of familiy activities, such as planning a long and varied vacation, bringing the kids in on the family budget (exception handlers come in as a natural concept) and so on. Any sort of strategy games. Almost all kids are into such activities, never thinking of the methodologies and strategies. What you could do is to draw the attention of your kids to these aspects so they become aware of them. While discussing the family budget, you bring in the "what ifs" and exception handling (obviously not calling it "exception hanlding"). This way, the kids can continue being kids, doing kids' activities, but maybe more aware of methodologies than their playmates. (I just re-read good old "Tom Sawyer" - that is a kid who can develop a program for the activities of the kids in his gang!)
-
I recommend checking out Zachtronics' puzzle games, they're very much programming in disguise. I'd start with Infinifactory as it's learning curve is the least steep. They're all hard and great fun. Depending on the kids' history with games and computers they might get into the harder ones (like Shenzhen I/O and TIS100).[
Here's an article on this
](http://gregorulm.com/programming-game-review-spacechem-2011-by-zachtronics/)[^] But keep in mind - quote :
Sometimes people mention SpaceChem as a good game to introduce people to programming. I would not recommend that at all because an introductory programming course is laughably easy in comparison. If anything, it is a game you may want to introduce a subset of programmers to.
:omg: Maybe in a few years. :laugh:
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
OK, fair enough. (My daughter, 15, looks at what I do and is in horror at the sheer complexity of it! :) )
I raised 3 daughters, now in their 30s. None were interested in programming, but all 3 married IT guys. :)
