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Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#51

Post by veli_joza »

joeberon wrote: post #36
potta_coffee wrote: post #3

The closest thing I've found to this is Pico-8: not a computer, a piece of software, but it's very cool. It has a simple text editor for writing Lua code, a simple sprite editor, and a simple sound editor, all for creating games. It's a nice little sandbox for playing with code and creating things. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

I love pico 8, but I think that Lua is probably the worst language for coding in an editor that can fit so few characters on the screen, and it feels like using an external editor defeats the point. Granted, I haven't used the software in a couple of years, has it improved on the editor front?

I'm surprised you feel that way. Lua seems like a perfect choice for pico-8. Its syntax is friendly and concise, and it's maybe simplest language to embed, with tiny footprint. Almost all other languages I know of would be a worse choice. Scratch would be nice, but graphical editor is harder to integrate. What's more suitable language in your opinion?

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#53

Post by bsenftner »

"Back in the day" the BASIC language made sense, as it was right at your prompt in text based interfaces. The same situation today is the web browser, and the ability to open up the developer's console and getting direct access to a web site's JavaScript, html & CSS. Forget BASIC, and introduce your kids to web developing. They will "get it" much faster than "boring dumb BASIC, can't do web stuff, it sucks."

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#54

Post by nickthegreek »

athenot wrote: post #33
alliecat wrote: post #17

Hear me out here; Apple's Swift Playgrounds on an iPad. I'm involved in an extracurricular thing in Scotland focused on giving kids an environment they can figure out computers. We've seen a lot of different approaches to the problem of "how can we get kids to code", and Swift Playgrounds is consistently where we see youngfolk making the most progress. It gives you a nice, guided framework to get the very basics of p…

My kids don't have tablets but this would be the application that would make me buy an iPad for them. Very close in spirit to the old LOGO, but with the added bonus of laying the foundation using a real language—real as in something used in our industry and with concepts that are easily transferable to other languages.

You can also put an ipad into an kiosk mode where they cannot exit an app without a pin. This will help keep the ipad as a 'power on to code' system and not let them drift into other apps.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#55

Post by evo_9 »

alliecat wrote: post #17

Hear me out here; Apple's Swift Playgrounds on an iPad. I'm involved in an extracurricular thing in Scotland focused on giving kids an environment they can figure out computers. We've seen a lot of different approaches to the problem of "how can we get kids to code", and Swift Playgrounds is consistently where we see youngfolk making the most progress. It gives you a nice, guided framework to get the very basics of p…

So what if your kid has access to a MacBook Air? Would you still start him/her out on an iPad or is it the same experience starting out on a Mac? Or is it too much/overwhelming to get started on Mac/Xcode from the get-go? Great suggestion, thanks for sharing this.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#56

Post by makmanalp »

potta_coffee wrote: post #3

The closest thing I've found to this is Pico-8: not a computer, a piece of software, but it's very cool. It has a simple text editor for writing Lua code, a simple sprite editor, and a simple sound editor, all for creating games. It's a nice little sandbox for playing with code and creating things. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

I think Pico-8 would be perfect if:

a) The code editing story was a bit nicer (better resolution / builtin support for external editing and reloading etc)

b) If there was some kid-specific introductory game programming content for it (even "type all this in and play around with it after" worked for me as a kid)

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#57

Post by sdegutis »

makmanalp wrote: post #56
potta_coffee wrote: post #3

The closest thing I've found to this is Pico-8: not a computer, a piece of software, but it's very cool. It has a simple text editor for writing Lua code, a simple sprite editor, and a simple sound editor, all for creating games. It's a nice little sandbox for playing with code and creating things. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

I think Pico-8 would be perfect if: a) The code editing story was a bit nicer (better resolution / builtin support for external editing and reloading etc) b) If there was some kid-specific introductory game programming content for it (even "type all this in and play around with it after" worked for me as a kid)

It has both of those. Most of the tutorial is in the pico8.txt file though.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#58

Post by [deleted] »

Kim_Bruning wrote: post #18

Raspberry PI cab be said to be evolved from a ~ power-on-to-BASIC computer; to wit: the (BBC) Acorn Archimedes. You can still get RISC OS for it even. Basically, you power on; hit F12; *BASIC >_ and bob's your uncle: you get a nice BBC BASIC prompt at the bottom of your screen. https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/raspberry-pi (that said, why not use pi + python? It's the new BASIC. And it supports turtle gra…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#59

Post by Legogris »

Kim_Bruning wrote: post #18

Raspberry PI cab be said to be evolved from a ~ power-on-to-BASIC computer; to wit: the (BBC) Acorn Archimedes. You can still get RISC OS for it even. Basically, you power on; hit F12; *BASIC >_ and bob's your uncle: you get a nice BBC BASIC prompt at the bottom of your screen. https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/raspberry-pi (that said, why not use pi + python? It's the new BASIC. And it supports turtle gra…

> and bob's your uncle

Completely OT, but I had just had to look up this phrase and the supposed origin made me chuckle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_your_uncle

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#60

Post by linsomniac »

kipchak wrote: post #28

The Kano kits come to mind in spirit, Though it's more of a guided cushier approach than just getting into basic. The basic idea is a Pi and it's accessories that you "build yourself" and then some optional add ons like a light grid display. I think the actual coding Python and Javascript with a block formatting kind of like lego Mindstorms. Come to think of it you can use Small Basic on Mindstorms which might be int…

I really like the Kano, but my son was able to figure out how to get into youtube with it and it's become a "all youtube all the time" environment.

Been using repl.it and the "Python with Turtle" flavor this week and he's been having fun with it.

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