Go and get [squeak](<a href=)[^]"> this is Small talk based. So fully object orientated. It runs as a virtual machine on the major three OS's (Win, Linux and Mac OS X). Running as a VM means your work in your PC should be safe ;) If you are new to Smalltalk (I guess many are) then I can really rocommend the book "Squeak: Learn Programming with Robots" from Apress. Just google it, as I think there is a free version somewhere on the net. my thoughts on other languages mentioned: If you go the BASIC or C route the kids will just learn procedural programming an then have a hard time if they have to understand Objects. Assembly: It's really good to learn this (but you really have to want to). On modern machines It is very hard to accomplish anything to get and keep an 11 year old's attention. Python is also a good place to start along with a few libraries such as Pygame. It is a small and powerful language, and easily understood, with a good level of programmer interaction, so you can easily take code apart. Also it is universal (Win, Linux and Mac OS X). But overall I would recommend Squeak, as it is very usable out of the install (aka box) and grows with the user to become what they want. Just remember if you were a kid starting out programming what would you want? I think something simple to achieve results quickly, so as not to get disheartened, but powerful to grow with you as you learn. ATB
