Kids Coding: Simple Java

#1

Post by ingve » Mon, Jul 03, 2017, 10:41 AM UTC

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#2

Post by vortico » Tue, Jul 04, 2017, 10:31 PM UTC

Pretty nice "Processing via the command line" trick. The API at https://processing.org/reference/ is much more friendly than the Java API at https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#3

Post by peterarmstrong » Tue, Jul 04, 2017, 11:20 PM UTC

I wrote a book (free minimum price) to teach my son programming, starting in Terminal, and using Ruby.

https://leanpub.com/programmingforkids

It's currently Mac-only, because of the `say` command, and so that I could write instructions for just one platform. I have ideas about how I'm going to fix that, but that won't be in the near future.

My son was about the same age when I started writing it, but the book scales nicely for any 9-14 year old, I think. Please feel free to give your son a copy, and let me know if it's helpful.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#4

Post by cutler » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 12:03 AM UTC

How to turn a kid off programming for life - choose Java as the teaching language. This kid had already started with Python, which is the natural choice for a first language, so why not just:

  import typing

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#5

Post by yorwba » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 1:15 AM UTC

cutler wrote: post #4

How to turn a kid off programming for life - choose Java as the teaching language. This kid had already started with Python, which is the natural choice for a first language, so why not just: import typing

You seem to have missed that his son had already played with Processing, which uses a simplified Java and a painless graphics API that lets you just put some commands in a file and get to a drawing on screen quickly. Also using it for more abstract projects like addition is not really a bad choice.

You may also be overestimating how much easier Python is to learn for a complete beginner. When I was 12 or so I discovered Python via RenPy (https://renpy.org) and although I could type some simple commands into the REPL, even the fact that you could put your code into a file to execute later was non-obvious to me. My experience with Processing was much smoother in comparison.

In my opinion, you should focus less on syntax and more on getting to an engaging experience with a fast feedback loop.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#6

Post by saghm » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 1:41 AM UTC

peterarmstrong wrote: post #3

I wrote a book (free minimum price) to teach my son programming, starting in Terminal, and using Ruby. https://leanpub.com/programmingforkids It's currently Mac-only, because of the `say` command, and so that I could write instructions for just one platform. I have ideas about how I'm going to fix that, but that won't be in the near future. My son was about the same age when I started writing it, but the book scales…

On Linux, there's `espeak`, which is essentially equivalent to `say` on Mac.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#7

Post by grogenaut » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 1:51 AM UTC

cutler wrote: post #4

How to turn a kid off programming for life - choose Java as the teaching language. This kid had already started with Python, which is the natural choice for a first language, so why not just: import typing

Lets try not to incite language flame wars in a discussion that could be super helpful without it.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#8

Post by khedoros1 » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 2:50 AM UTC

peterarmstrong wrote: post #3

I wrote a book (free minimum price) to teach my son programming, starting in Terminal, and using Ruby. https://leanpub.com/programmingforkids It's currently Mac-only, because of the `say` command, and so that I could write instructions for just one platform. I have ideas about how I'm going to fix that, but that won't be in the near future. My son was about the same age when I started writing it, but the book scales…

> It's currently Mac-only, because of the `say` command, and so that I could write instructions for just one platform. I have ideas about how I'm going to fix that, but that won't be in the near future.

There's a package on Debian Linux based systems called "gnustep-gui-runtime" which (among a lot of other things) provides the "say" command.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#9

Post by khedoros1 » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 2:59 AM UTC

cutler wrote: post #4

How to turn a kid off programming for life - choose Java as the teaching language. This kid had already started with Python, which is the natural choice for a first language, so why not just: import typing

I started with QBasic and C++ when I was a kid. A lot of my later instruction was in Java, and I don't have a strong argument for why it couldn't've been used as my first language.

Re: Kids Coding: Simple Java

#10

Post by dajt » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 4:16 AM UTC

I'm trying to get my kids to play Human Resource Machine. I hate the name but the game is okay. Because it's basically drag and drop assembly language the amount of steps for the challenges quickly rises. That's a bit of a shame, but the upside is it does sort of teach how a primitive computer would work at a low level for a kid who was grabbed by it.

The blog author and a commenter make a good point about how back in the day getting the computer to do just about anything was thrilling, whereas now expectations are a lot higher but so is the knowledge and effort required to make that happen.

Switching on a computer and getting nothing but a ready prompt somehow made it easier (or more necessary?) to make your own fun.