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

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

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I think that socials skills are lacking those who are easily offended by anything.

Agreed and disagreed. It's not healthy to be permanently offended, but presenting an idea and being told that it isn't good (by someone presenting no alternative) or that you have ulterior motives (by readers of a website directed to startups of all things) isn't something someone should need to deal with.

> presenting an idea and being told that it isn't good (by someone presenting no alternative) ... isn't something someone should need to deal with.

I might be visualizing a different conversational domain than you are, but I'm not sure about this.

For example, when you build a bridge, there's a clear, objective line of quality somewhere above "the bridge stays standing." If I know enough about physics to see that your bridge won't stand, that doesn't mean that I also know enough about architecture to propose my own bridge -- but it doesn't have to; the knowledge that design X is fatally flawed is useful in its own right.

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

#122
post #22

Why do you need a kickstarter before you write a 50page book? Just set up a preorder list, and bill when ready to ship the printed books.

Would you have heard of her book if she didn't have a kickstarter? That's why she needs a kickstarter. It's a marketing tool, possibly moreso than it's a crowdfunding tool.

If everyone was to use Kickstarter in this way, Kickstarter would lose the appeal it has for hosting niche / innovative projects. Diminishes the tool for the rest of us.

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

#123

The comments on this thread make me want to quit HN for good. I don't know Linda but I volunteered at RailsGirls in SF this past weekend. It was a wonderful experience and I'm hoping to organize one here in my area. I've got 4 kids (3 girls, 1 boy) and we do everything from LEGOs to making movies to programming to SnapCircuits to building robots. I'm excited about this book. Even if I wasn't, I honestly can't imagine…

[deleted]

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

#124

Want to know how to teach kids to use computers? Give them an 8-bit machine from the 80's, and all the books for the thing that you can find. My kids have an old 8-bit machine .. and they love the thing. They can type in their own BASIC programs from tons of sources, or load up a hundred games and other educational apps from a disk that I know won't contain anything weird or offensive .. on a machine with no access t…

The two methodologies aren't mutually exclusive. Maybe when this book comes out your kids will love it, perhaps even have a better appreciation for the concepts because of their experiences. Or, since Ruby is very different than BASIC, it might give them a glimpse into the variety of the world of computer programming.

Does a child receive a bicycle so as to get a glimpse into the variety of the world of human-powered locomotion?

Remember, "The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work."

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

#125

She's certainly very good at marketing, but based on the video and Kickstarter page I wonder how educational the book will actually be. A couple of sample pages would be helpful.

Your comment does not explain why you doubt that the book will be educational. So anyone that doesn't see a reason still won't see a reason.

  She's certainly very good at marketing
You're certainly very good at suggesting your criticism should be taken seriously, because you preceded it with praise.

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

#126

For your consideration: Her last name means "slippery" in Finnish. She's puzzlingly good at pretending to smile and acting cutesy. Both are far from natural for a Finn. (Source: I'm a Finn)

Shhh. Here you go:

www.reddit.com

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

#127
post #119
post #93

Seems like lot of comments have concerns with the programming part, so here is my view why indirect approaches can be also important: When we started Rails Girls with Linda, we saw that there were plenty of programming workshops, books and education available. We didn't want to create one more. Instead we focused on creating easy, one-day workshop to get you to try and see what programming and technology is about, wh…

Thanks for this reply. It seems a lot of "problem solvers" in this thread couldn't quite imagine the problem you might be addressing, let alone the possibilities of the solution you chose. Edit: Looks really promising btw. Best of luck moving forward.

Thank you.

(Just clarification that I'm not involved with this project but I have talked about it with Linda in the past. So my views are my own views, and not necessarily Linda's.)

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

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing wrong with voicing concern about the state of a community that you care about.

There is definitely something wrong with doing that with a top-level comment. It distracts from the actual topic. You should only do that if you have a very good reason, such as noting the same behavior multiple times on multiple topics. You should certainly not do it within two hours after the article was posted, to allow time for selfcorrection. That is the point of the voting system. There is also something wrong…

You should only do that if you have a very good reason, such as noting the same behavior multiple times on multiple topics

A top level comment seems to be the only appropriate place to discuss the overall tone or tenor of a conversation. Responding to each dismissive/negative/unconstructive comment seems redundant and annoying.

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

#129
post #65

What an incredibly important book for little boys, to normalize learning from women early on so they don't grow up to form stereotypes like "programming is for men". Bravo!

Note: author is being sincere. It's easy to read the comment as ugly sarcasm, inspired by whatever -ism comes to mind.

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

#130

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.

I want to address one of the books in the Amazon link. 3D game programming FOR KIDS looks overwhelming even to me. The kid me would have looked a few pages and fell right asleep. I understand it isn't for the same age range as Linda's book but wow. This is the problem getting kids to stick with it. My manager talks about his kids just not sticking with programming. They go to classes and want to build things, but it is easier to play games than actually build them. Which is more valuable skill? Looking at the mockup images of Linda's book, it seems to bring kids real life scenarios with a programming ideology which is fantastic.
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