FreeBasic

I'm just a hobbyist, and approaching 40, so maybe this is pure nostalgia. But I do think text adventures (especially writing one yourself) are still a great way to teach coding -- and the whole keyboard-centric paradigm of computing. As a side note, being a non-native speaker, I learned quite a bit of English with the legendary adventure games by Sierra and Al Lowe. Great teacher, extra credits for his quirky and naughty, but yet so intelligent humor, of course. :)

Currently we're going through a QBASIC tutorial by Ted Felix: http://tedfelix.com/qbasic/

I think it is really well thought out and structured; looks like a great "more traditional" introduction to programmer's way of reasoning for kids around 10-12. I also like the empathetic language the author is using -- he has clearly put some thought into how to explain things so that a 10-or-so year-old kid would understand it while reading on their own.

I am actually in the process of translating this tutorial to my language (Estonian). Most of it is already done, and I can confirm that our son is doing really well reading it and trying out the examples entirely on his own. The QBASIC IDE is IMO still really good due to the instant feedback the child gets while messing around with it.

The same author Ted Felix also has a follow-up about creating sprites in QBASIC: http://tedfelix.com/qbasic/sprites.html

Another great BASIC-based environment for children appears to be LowResNX: https://lowresnx.inutilis.com/

Haven't tested it out myself, but after we're done with the QBASIC book, we might move over to this one, actually. The manual looks great, might be quite accessible for a 10-12yo kid's self-study: https://lowresnx.inutilis.com/docs/manual.html

It is definitely strange to reach for BASIC as a teaching language in 2023. But, this is an argument that has been echoed on HN as well, today's popular languages do seem somewhat overkill for a child's first independent explorations. But, again, I am just a hobbyist, no intention to grow a programmer out of our son. I would actually just like to teach im thinking skills, and a way to have some intellecual fun.

I found Basic! and techBASIC on the ipad, and they might run on Apple Silicon.

The latter is not in the appstore these days.(It seems to have morphed into something else)

(quick download) Basic! runs on Ventura/MacMiniM2. How well is TBD.

I'll set up a linux system for fun as soon as I get some things sorted out.

Not promoting any of these. My first BASIC was Palo Alto Tiny Basic, typed in or read in on paper tape (I had to set up the reader and program first) on the IMSAI.

For linux, I am pretty sure that GAMBAS will run. I have not researched others.

Happy Interpreting!