Re: [MLUG] good intro to programming for a teenager?

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 8/7/05, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> My son is 13 years old.  He is very interested in computers right now
> (thanks to those of you who gave us some tips on what to by for gaming -
> we put together a killer machine, I thought, for $600).  It was a great
> experience for us to work together assembling the computer and installing
> software.  He is interested in learning all sorts of things about
> computers and he just told me that he wants to learn to program.  Many of
> you guys are excellent programmers and would probably have ideas about
> good ways for a kid to get started.  What do you recommend?  (Language?
> Books? Things to try to program?)

Interesting question.  If the son were a true math geek, I might
suggest you take a stab at something like the Structure and
Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP, which is free on the web
at:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

There's like a 1 in 20 chance that would "take", but if it did...a 13
year old who could handle that would be *formidable* as a college
freshman down the line.

So failing that, I'd suggest that, whatever you do, it be in a
language that is widely available and that it would lead to
programming that did something your son finds interesting or useful as
quickly as possible.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but you could
do a lot worse than Javascript on that account.  I'm cruising through
the Sun Java Tutorial right now, and while my opinion of the language
has improved a *lot* since I started doing that, I still don't see it
as a great first programming language, since there is just a bit too
much baggage to pack up before you get anywhere.  C or C++ are like
that only more so, since you really can't get anywhere much with those
until the notion of a pointer and/or taking the address of something
are really intuitively obvious.  Truth to be told, I know lots of
brilliant 18 and 20 year olds who don't pick this up as quickly as you
would (or they would) think.

Ah, the joys of free high-speed internet in hotel rooms.  We drove
from Columbia to Denver today (left at 5, arrived at 4:30 local time).
 Our Comfort Inn is 70% a dump, but it's cheap, somewhat clean, and
has free wifi.  I've done a lot worse.  But if anything I've said here
is deranged, blame it on driving through Kansas. :-)

jking

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