Hello Ruby – Almost there

> It doesn't have first-level functions, instead it has blocks

Hold it right there. If first-level functions, blocks and module systems are the first thing that springs to your mind when talking about teaching people with _zero, none, absolutely no_ previous experience with coding, you are speaking at a completely different level.

That reads far more like an attempt to discredit a language you don't like then actually caring about the subject matter at hand (teaching coding to kids).

I did believe in her product. What I didn't believe in was an utter lack of regard to KS backers, poor communication, misdirections, a publishing contract with Macmillan, a late delivery (while being less than truthful with KS about it).

The author bears some responsibility for changing my mind from believing in her product (what you call helping, "someone realise their product") to simply just wanting the end result of what I paid for at a higher cost than retail.

With something like Ruby we can start the child right off with

puts 'Hello World'

Immediately they have a positive feedback cycle. At this stage they don't need to know that a top level object has been implicitly created for them and this statement is part of that object. We'll get to that stuff later. Start off basic with some simple lines of working code. Move up to conditionals, loops, add in methods later in a sort of procedural fashion. Eventually higher level concepts will be introduced.

Also to this point of yours, "It doesn't have first-level functions, instead it has blocks (which can take parameters to serve the same use as functions but aren't)."

That is one of those things that comes from someone that hasn't spent enough time with the language. While the treatment is slightly different, the outcome is the same. Ruby supports closures and passing methods to methods.

Before you retort with, "But blocks/procs aren't 'really' methods", you might also want to step back and realize that Ruby also allows any method to be passed as well using &Object.method(:method_name); that basically says "Oh hey; pass this method just like a block".

My choices for intro programming language would probably be Haskell and Coffeescript - both has a simple but coherent set of concepts and a straightforward syntax designed around those concepts.

It isn't the actual coding, or syntax of languages that trip people up, at least not when first learning. At any age, it is the logic that needs to come first. How code flows, branches, how to work with variables, and build up to more complex structures.

It is the same as learning math - you learn how to count to 10, then 100, then start manipulating them via basic addition. Or to read, we first learn the alphabet. For teaching kids to code, first they need to understand the very basics.

There are many products coming along that are working on ways to teach these basic concepts to children, using literal blocks in some cases, to give kids a base skill set before ever actually getting into what could be called "code".