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

[Mark Rages <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 8/7/05, Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> 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

Jonathan,

How do you debug Javascript?  Seriously, it's always been a pain in
the neck to debug it.  This was my favorite thing about Python when I
was learning it: On error, it dumps a full stack trace.  You know
right where things started to go wrong.

Mike,

What does your son want to make the computer do?  I got started
programming by trying to show off to myself: It's a short path from "I
wonder if I can't make my webpage show what CD I'm listening to." to
downloading the source for the CD player program I was using and
learning enough C++ to make it happen.  This kind of experimentation
taught me a lot more than the syntax of a certain language, it taught
me about how computers work.

I think this motivation is important. With the Internet, you can learn
*anything* about a Linux system.  Seriously.  Down to the source code.
 Down to the arguments on the developer's mailing lists.  When I
realized I can make the computer do *anything I could think of*, I was
hooked.

Find out what your son wants to make the computer do.  Build a robot? 
Write a game? a web service?

Have him look at these web sites for inspiration:

  http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/
  http://robotroom.com/index.html#PROJECTS
  http://hackaday.com/
  http://www.makezine.com/blog/
  
Regards,
Mark
EMAIL:PROTECTED
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