21–30 of 49 posts
This is really neat! But if I can make a suggestion, a good and interesting explanation should use a strong analogy. A story wrapped around the explanation doesn’t do as much to help with understanding Check out Code by Charles Petzold for what I personally consider the best example! The analogies build on each other in steps that never feel too complex in order.
The text message conversations between the chapters are good. The chapters themselves are oddly twee, as if written in the 1950s. I think it's the parts where you talk to the reader in the present tense, to directly describe the characters, that give that impression. It's kind of babying for something generally written at a YA level. In fact you mix present and past tense from the first paragraph, that's not good, ch…
How is explaining something with higher mathematics reasonable for childrens? Exponentials arent something you can use. Also shorter sentences are usually easier to understand.
assert 2+3 == 5
assert 2*3 == 6 == 2 + 2 + 2
assert 2**3 == 8 == ((2+2) + (2+2))
assert 2.5*2 == 5 == (2*2) + (0.5*2)
assert 2.5*10 == 25
assert 2.5*100 == 250
assert 2.5*104 == 260 == (2.5*100)+(2.5*4)
# f(x) = x+1
def f(x):
return x+1
assert f(0) == 1
assert f(1) == 2
assert f(999) == 1000
# N-th derivatives of displacement; velocity, acceleration, jerk, jounce
# (time t seconds, meters)
xyvals = [(0,0), (1, 10), (2, 120)]
# velocity:
10-0 / 1-0 = 10m/s
100-10 / 2-1 = 110m/sThis is for geeky parents who think their kid will absolutely totally get it. Starting with binary (wonderfully pointless), exponentials and walls of text just show how this is not actually for kids.
"Binary" is a weird place to start. Even adults dont start there.
Yeah, it doesn't appear until page 26 of The Beginner's computer handbook https://archive.org/details/beginnerscompute0000unse/page/26... Or page 10 of Inside the Chip, illustrated with Tron cycles https://archive.org/details/insidechip00hele/page/10/mode/2u... It's on the cover of Machine code for beginners, but nobody read that one first. (It's available in full though, BTW.) https://archive.org/details/machine-cod…
It's weird that someone would approach a book for kids the same way they do for adults. Instead of painting a top-down, inspiring picture, they start with some boring building block that's arguably not even on the critical path.
It's obviously very dated today, but I really appreciated it as a kid when I saw it on TV.
This is for geeky parents who think their kid will absolutely totally get it. Starting with binary (wonderfully pointless), exponentials and walls of text just show how this is not actually for kids.
Yeah, I was hoping for more pictures and about two lines of text per page. This will work when he’s 15 or so.
Kids are smarter than you think. A 7 year old could certainly follow anything, given the right instruction. If I can teach a 7 year old long division, I can teach them how a JK flip flop works.
This is for geeky parents who think their kid will absolutely totally get it. Starting with binary (wonderfully pointless), exponentials and walls of text just show how this is not actually for kids.
IMO its far too technical for an actual child to want to get into. Starting at a higher level of abstraction would be easier for them
I have not written down but have bits and pieces of a long-ish story that I have been narrating to my 7-year old. And follows a similar cyberpunk post-human-collapse dystopian kinda scene -- a young brave 7-year old girl and her droid companion. This is to blend in and cross-over with her own story that she had been making up since a year or so - a mini-world of her own where every living thing is a clone of her -- a cat - yes, cloned from her; dinosaurs - yes, her clone.
Edit/Suggestion: I've an idea. Just don't specify this as for kids but for a generally smart young-adult.