Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#171

Post by bluenose69 » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:02 AM UTC

You didn't say anything about the boy's interests. That's what matters most. A lot of young people (and older ones!) find tinkering arduinos to be a lot of fun, either making robot-type devices or making sensors to monitor the environment. Others like games, and would enjoy exploring that area. Still others might be interested in mathematics. And so on. Build on existing interests.

I wonder if there's a typo in your message. If the boy is 18yo, then an interest in programming will have already surfaced. Don't try forcing him to do something that's not of interest to him. You only have him at home for short while now. I'd encourage you to explore what he likes to do. Maybe you'll find a new interest, and the two of you will have a great time before he leaves home.

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#172

Post by donthellbanme » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:19 AM UTC

g42gregory wrote: post #127

p1esk wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

Internet services are designed to be addictive for kids (and adults). Usually, this addiction is not good for the kids. That’s why my kids are not on the Internet unsupervised.

But what do they do when they are at friends homes, or at school all crowded around a iphone in the bathroom.

I don't have kids, but there's a part of me that would want them to see the bowels of the internet, and hopefully Never want to see that crap again. I know there are pictures I wish I never saw. I'm so glad I didn't see the toddler whom was raped by a Russian soldier. Putin arrested that soldier I head.

If I had children, I don't think I would let them use the internet either.

I wonder if their are any good studies on letting children have free access to restricted. Maybe the study couldn't even be legally carried out?

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#173

Post by newusertoday » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:27 AM UTC

teach him to tinker existing sites in browser with javascript. Once he is able to see the changes he is making in realtime it will get him hooked, then you just need to point him to the right references here and there and he will become proficient on his own. I have taught or rather i shoud say given a demo to number of kids and i am yet to find a kid who didn't get hooked. It's kind of empowering just to change the background color of any website to your liking :)

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#174

Post by cannabis_sam » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

p1esk wrote: post #121

jollofricepeas wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is pretty common. For the most part my friends and work pals who are all software engineers or work closely with tech (DBAs, SREs, Sec). Their children aren’t allowed to use the internet unsupervised or in some cases not at all. Pretty much all of us don’t let our kids use social media. For my friends who don’t work in tech, their kids all have social media and use the internet unsupervised.

Why not?

It’s a neurological issue stemming from the protective instinct of parents.

Kinda sad actually, when you consider that Aaron Swartz was a member of the RSS working group at 14, after already winning a prize for an online encyclopedia at 12.

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#175

Post by smackeyacky » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:50 AM UTC

Emacs? Why?

Pull up the debugger in chrome on random websites and start them on javascript.

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#176

Post by hypertele-Xii » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:59 AM UTC

Zachtronics games [0]. The epitome of educational programming game developers. Solve puzzles and optimize solutions by learning to think like a computer.

[0] https://www.zachtronics.com/

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#177

Post by r9295 » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 11:02 AM UTC

https://w3.cs.jmu.edu/kirkpams/OpenCSF/Books/csf/html/

I wish I had this resource when I started. A great introduction to CS fundamentals

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#178

Post by wincy » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 2:10 PM UTC

cannabis_sam wrote: post #174

p1esk wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

It’s a neurological issue stemming from the protective instinct of parents. Kinda sad actually, when you consider that Aaron Swartz was a member of the RSS working group at 14, after already winning a prize for an online encyclopedia at 12.

I wish my single mom had had the technical savvy to keep me from becoming a porn addict at 12. I had erectile dysfunction when I finally had my first real sexual encounter and it took years to learn how to be with a real woman versus looking at a screen. It also spread into worse more risky behaviors in my adulthood, and I think exacerbated my social shyness and kept me years back in learning how to socialize.

I’m definitely severely restricting the internet for my two daughters, out of a sense of realism and not due to some “neurological issue”.

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#179

Post by DashAnimal » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 2:11 PM UTC

gandalfff wrote: post #129

_fjb4 wrote: post #50

There's something the "old hackers" know that many CS students don't learn from the start (in the introductory classes), and that is actually how a computer operates. Don't spend a lot of time on this unless he's really interested, but it's a good idea to sit down with him for a few hours and teach him what really goes on inside a computer. I'm talking about the concept of instructions, registers, addressable memory,…

Non-programmer here. I've been interested in learning more about exactly this. Where should I start?

I would recommend the book "Inside the Machine" by Jon Stokes. I'm a programmer so not going in with fresh eyes necessarily, but it definitely felt like it began at the start and the author was a tech journalist for Ars Technica (with a Computer Systems background) - I think it does a really good job. It also happens to be one of my favorite books, especially if you're interested in older hardware.

Re: Ask HN: It's 2022. Where should I direct the youths to learn about programming?

#180

Post by gandalfff » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 3:14 PM UTC

DashAnimal wrote: post #179

gandalfff wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-programmer here. I've been interested in learning more about exactly this. Where should I start?

I would recommend the book "Inside the Machine" by Jon Stokes. I'm a programmer so not going in with fresh eyes necessarily, but it definitely felt like it began at the start and the author was a tech journalist for Ars Technica (with a Computer Systems background) - I think it does a really good job. It also happens to be one of my favorite books, especially if you're interested in older hardware.

I'll check it out. Thank you!