Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children • Hacker News Board

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#141

Post by zamnos » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

Retr0id wrote: post #84

__mharrison__ wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure Excel is the largest coding group in the world, they just don't share their code in Github.

"Community" being the key word.

I have never seen a programmer as excited to tell me about something like, say, Duff's Device as I've seen one excel user hear another ask "what're pivot tables"? and to have the other reply "Let me show you..." That may have to do with the kind of party I end up at, but "helping each other out" is a rather important feature of any community. There are also Excel championships with a prize. https://www.fmworldcup.com/excel-esports/microsoft-excel-wor...

When's the last time you got a prize for programming outside of your paycheck or a signing bonus? Communities definitely have shared events and what better shared event than a competition?

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#142

Post by alexb_ » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:37 PM UTC

JoeOfTexas wrote: post #13

My 9 year old daughter surprised me yesterday with her little game made with Scratch. I was impressed. I surprised her back when I did user-testing haha. She discovered the fun world of bugs and user's doing things they shouldn't!

I remember when I was young, I made a scratch game that was just "Guess the secret letter". Basically "if l pressed, you win, else you lose".

Except my 10 year old brain did not understand what else meant. So I created, over the course of hours, a different if statement for every key on the keyboard that all ended with "you lose". Was a shock to me when my parents, after seeing my code for the first time, told me what else means. What a waste!

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#143

Post by ciconia » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:38 PM UTC

Both of my teenage kids are learning Scratch at school. They both find it confusing and annoying, and I don't disagree. I believe teaching them something like LOGO would have been much more efficient and gratifying.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#144

Post by alexb_ » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:38 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #50

Folks here who used scratch with their kids, what is the next step after scratch? How did you introduce a language/platform to your kid? I have introduced python and my kid is able to pick it up, but am unable to come up with projects that sustain interest. It feels dry without UI and one shouldn't be doing web dev with python too. So what is the progression for python and kids?

I think it's best to just leave them with scratch until they get bored of it. Eventually, if they end up having a passion for programming, the fundamentals built there will help them immensly at picking it up. Be careful not to force your own interests on your kids!

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#145

Post by Retr0id » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:40 PM UTC

zamnos wrote: post #141

Retr0id wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Community" being the key word.

I have never seen a programmer as excited to tell me about something like, say, Duff's Device as I've seen one excel user hear another ask "what're pivot tables"? and to have the other reply "Let me show you..." That may have to do with the kind of party I end up at, but "helping each other out" is a rather important feature of any community. There are also Excel championships with a prize. https://www.fmworldcup.com…

I'm amused that's still going, one of my classmates qualified for and attended the Word championship hosted in Vegas many years ago.

As for programming prizes, "last week" if we're counting bug-bounties, "a few years ago" if we're counting CTFs, and 5 years ago if we're not.

Clearly there is an Excel community in the general sense but as far as I know it isn't centered around any particular venue - at least, not one at the scale of GitHub or Scratch

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#146

Post by vb234 » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:44 PM UTC

JoeOfTexas wrote: post #13

My 9 year old daughter surprised me yesterday with her little game made with Scratch. I was impressed. I surprised her back when I did user-testing haha. She discovered the fun world of bugs and user's doing things they shouldn't!

I’ve been tempted to teach my daughter programming with scratch. At what age did you introduce your daughter to Scratch and programming? Where there any helpful/fun guides you or she discovered along the way?

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#147

Post by SpaceManNabs » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

I first used scratch in 200X as a freshman. Glad to see lots of other kids are still using it to learn. My best friend at the time made an incredible sonic game and it showed me how deep you can go with any tool.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#148

Post by somethoughts » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:51 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #50

Folks here who used scratch with their kids, what is the next step after scratch? How did you introduce a language/platform to your kid? I have introduced python and my kid is able to pick it up, but am unable to come up with projects that sustain interest. It feels dry without UI and one shouldn't be doing web dev with python too. So what is the progression for python and kids?

I'm in the process of testing out the following on Middle Schoolers:

microStudio includes all you need to write code, create sprites and maps for your 2D game. All from your web browser. Your project is stored in the cloud, accessible from anywhere.

Write your game code in microScript, a simple language inspired by Lua. The documentation is always there to help. Create cool demos in just a few lines of code.

microScript shines by its simplicity and interactivity. But you can also code in JavaScript, Python or Lua if you prefer.

https://microstudio.dev

Also recently found https://www.solarus-games.org:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq7rda5G6Lc

Starts out with some default RPGMaker style tools (i.e. tile map editor, sprite manager, enemy manager, etc.) but subtly introduces Lua to enable mods to the default game making tools so you can make your own Zelda like games.

Wish me luck!

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#149

Post by MH15 » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:51 PM UTC

Scratch was instrumental in my path to software, I loved using the old desktop version as a kid. Thrilled to see it continues to inspire a new generation of children.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#150

Post by pdm55 » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:55 PM UTC

Elte wrote: post #71

teucris wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which platforms are you referring to?

Also not OP, but I literally just learned about Hedy [1] today. No experience except from clicking through it for 20 minutes, but it looks quite interesting, taking somebody from a language with a very simple syntax (and limited functionality) to full blown Python, one level at a time, by making the language gradually more complicated (and more powerful). [1] https://www.hedycode.com/

I also quickly went through the basic tasks in 17 levels of Hedy in about 20 mins. (I just know a little programming.) Hedy is text-based and introduces ideas such as: print, entering variables, if, else, repeat, ... I really liked the gradual approach, which keeps you going forward onto the next level.

There are additional tasks at each level (see tabs at top) which I didn't try. It seems that these tasks are best done from left to right in order to get the basic idea of what is required.