Linda Liukas' Programming book for Children has Huge First Day on Kickstarter

Post by tinco » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

Quarrelsome wrote: post #25

brador wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like and support the intent, but I feel the execution will be a let down in terms of usability. How is it possible to teach even the basics of programming in 32 pages? How would you explain a simple FOR loop to a child through a story?

..... Forgetful George was crying in the corner. "What's wrong?" quizzed Ivy Iterator. "It's too complicated" moaned George, he continued: "Mr Main has asked me to deliver all of these invites to the birthday party but I keep forgetting which people I've given invitations to. I gave Sam three invites and Polly hasn't got one yet, it's no use! I can't remember which invite is which!" "Don't worry" said Ivy, "lets work…

Post by Argorak » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #19

Cynic hat on . . . I'm not sure I get this. Looks like an effort to promote an illustrator more than actually achieve the stated aims. The reasoning is simple: Alan Kay and others have repeatedly demonstrated kids have a far greater aptitude for this stuff than is generally accepted. The packaging in this manner isn't the problem, the problem is the programming environments around today don't tend to do anything the…

Post by throwawaycoder » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 4:46 PM UTC

supersystem wrote: post #28

sethbannon wrote: post #6

Such an important project. Resources like this could go a long way towards solving some of the diversity problems we have in tech.

Also this is a good example of why we should have diversity in the first place.

Post by baldfat » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 4:48 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #24

fidotron wrote: post #19

Cynic hat on . . . I'm not sure I get this. Looks like an effort to promote an illustrator more than actually achieve the stated aims. The reasoning is simple: Alan Kay and others have repeatedly demonstrated kids have a far greater aptitude for this stuff than is generally accepted. The packaging in this manner isn't the problem, the problem is the programming environments around today don't tend to do anything the…

I too first really started with Logo. I tried teaching Scheme twice to 7-yr-olds, and found they readily picked up the concepts. But they seem more excited with things like Scratch, since you can get sounds and things jumping around and responding in a very easy manner. Logo is just not as impressive now as it was decades ago.

Post by shangxiao » Thu, Jan 23, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

throwawaycoder wrote: post #35

supersystem wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also this is a good example of why we should have diversity in the first place.

Because men would never have thought of creating a programming book for kids? http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aprog... Or maybe because men can't draw as well as women? Edit: probably I'll get downvoted for this so I'll just add that I think it's good this book is being made. Can't hurt to try different things to get kids interested. Just not sure why the gender comment was necessary.