Comments on: How to teach a boy programming skills?

Question: How to teach a boy programming skills?

germanguy — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 10:21:18 -0800

SW-Developer was asked by 8-yrs old boy how to write a computer program...

My little friend wants to do a little maze game. Which is the right environment?

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 10:33:42 -0800

There are great tools like DARKBasic which are suited for this task. I've also seen this tool recommended by a few people. There are several similar tools floating around.

By: germanguy

germanguy — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:28:17 -0800

... i am interested in your experience, too. The youngster is coming tomorrow afternoon, i have 24 hours left to become acquainted with it ... and i am a bit anxious... please help!

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:58:19 -0800

i always thought toontalk looked pretty cool, but perhaps in an ironic retro way that wouldn't appeal to 8 year old boys, and anyway i have no idea how you'd get it to make mazes.

By: tremendo

tremendo — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:58:31 -0800

There's also Squeak. I don't know enough about it, but 24 hrs seems like very little time for anything.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:58:38 -0800

Logo?

Apparently there's a German version of MSWLogo, check here.

By: abcde

abcde — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:49:09 -0800

I've tutored a kid on programming. I did HTML first to give him a sense for what it means to describe things to a computer, then Logo. It's going to be a long process to get to a maze game.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 13:44:39 -0800

Another vote for Squeak. Didn't Disney make it?

By: devilsbrigade

devilsbrigade — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:10:18 -0800

Logo Logo Logo Logo

By: willnot

willnot — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:57:29 -0800

Do you already have any games with good level editors? I've never tried to use one of those, but I have to think that would be easier for a young child to get their head around than variables and loops and whatever else they need to know.

By: polyglot

polyglot — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 22:00:17 -0800

We did Logo in primary school (elementary). Once they've got the hang of that, there are lots of different BASIC interpreters out there that he could probably pick up, plus any number of other languages.

Do not underestimate the learning capability of 8 year olds; just because programming is something usually done by "older" people doesn't mean they can't pick it up.

By: aroberge

aroberge — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 11:24:45 -0800

Squeak looks very good indeed, to initiate someone to programming. However, I don't think it will enable him to write his own games very easily.
Another option is rur-ple. It is an introduction to programming with Python. With some knowledge of Python, one can write games using Pygame.

By: germanguy

germanguy — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 13:01:35 -0800

Thx everybody,
the day is over and i think it was a success.

We didn't start programming (i definively will have a look at LOGO, looks very promising...).

Instead i found gamemaker. Really nice!!!