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Kaboom – JavaScript game programming library and environment

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Re: Kaboom – JavaScript game programming library and environment

#21

Post by RobertKerans »

hutzlibu wrote: post #7
lrmunoz wrote: post #3

It seems this is aimed at young people learning how to program. My main problem with using Javascript as the first programming language to learn is the asynchronous callback paradigm, I believe it's too complicated a concept to teach in the very beginning (and you can't get around that with Javascript). When I evaluated different languages / environments to start teaching programming to my daughters I decided not to…

Hm, but how does it work in python? Don't you have asynchronous calls there, too? (my main problem with JS as a programming first language is its C-Style syntax)

Yes, but it isn't the core way the language works -- you don't need to approach asynchronicity very early on as you do with JS, and it's not all closures. At some point someone learning Python will have to do something async. But what they can do up until then is just not do anything async, and that's fine (just wait for stuff to complete...). That's not really an option in JS: the great benefit of the language from a learner perspective is that it just runs straightaway in the browser, everywhere. But to actually do anything interesting (click a button, make something happen), that's async.

Re. the syntax, anecdata but I've helped beginners through their initial steps for about 6 years now in JS (and Python) and C-type syntax is just not an issue that slows down learning or causes issues. There are only so many different ways syntax can be structured so it's sane for a compiler to parse, they all work basically the same way, and people get used to a syntax really quickly

Re: Kaboom – JavaScript game programming library and environment

#22

Post by tobr »

RobertKerans wrote: post #21
hutzlibu wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, but how does it work in python? Don't you have asynchronous calls there, too? (my main problem with JS as a programming first language is its C-Style syntax)

Yes, but it isn't the core way the language works -- you don't need to approach asynchronicity very early on as you do with JS, and it's not all closures. At some point someone learning Python will have to do something async. But what they can do up until then is just not do anything async, and that's fine (just wait for stuff to complete...). That's not really an option in JS: the great benefit of the language from…

I’m sure you know about async/await in JavaScript? It sounds like the issue you have is not so much with the traditional paradigm of using callbacks, but the fact that the “default” environment in JavaScript is a GUI rather than a CLI, meaning that you need to figure out things like event handlers pretty early on?

Re: Kaboom – JavaScript game programming library and environment

#23

Post by HenryBemis »

Iv wrote: post #13
grenoire wrote: post #4

I wish I had such tools when I was growing up building games! I had to battle ncurses, Allegro, OpenGL, and many more lower-level tech just to get some basic I/O. I'm not too sad about it because it paved the way to my stronger understanding of computer technologies, but at the same time it took me way longer to build playable games. I think this is a step before making Minecraft mods or Roblox games, but definitely…

That's something I encounter a lot too when wondering what tool to propose kids to start programming. I had GW-BASIC. It took two lines to draw a line on the screen. There are not a lot of things as easy nowadays

I was looking for a GW-BASIC comment.. "back in my days". Glad to see you wrote one, otherwise I would have to!
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