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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

#101

Post by thinkpad20 »

fit2rule wrote: post #16

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.

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

#102

Post by Confusion »

callmeed wrote: post #62

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…

So downvote and move on. You're not adding anything on topic with this meta comment and you could have foreseen it would hijack the top spot.

To add insult to injury, you're being drama-royalty: just because a few nobodies level unfounded criticism at her is not reason to "quit HN for good". Or you would've quit long ago. And instead of rubbing their face in their dumbness by explaining to them how wrong their criticism is, you're just going to stand on a soapbox and complain in general about how annoying the world is. Do something about it! And no, what you have posted is not doing something about it.

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

#103

Post by jorgem »

rimantas wrote: post #86
jorgem wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think you inferred it.

So how do you interpret "diversity" then? That we need more kids in industry?

Diversity could be: Income, Country of Origin, Sex, Sexual preference, Ethnicity... much more. It's a broad term.

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

#104

Post by Keyframe »

Here I was open-minded as ever, prepared to see something great, also prepared to scold at misogynistic crowd because there were hints in some comments that there is such crowd here... and then I watched the video.

Everything that can go in other direction related to stereotypes and gender roles - DID. It went so overboard that I think it's a part of marketing strategy for it. This is just sad, because I think the product could've done without it as well as it did.

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

#105

Post by deveac »

ultimatedelman wrote: post #72
jcoder wrote: 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!

this comment is asinine. please leave HN.

I believe the point he was making was essentially that because this book eschews traditional stereotypes and cultural messaging about disciplines like science and math being the purview of males, not only do girls benefit, but boys do as well by virtue of the fact that the values they are being taught are less selectively biased.

Not only do young women win (obvious), but young men do as well as they are less likely to both accept and perpetuate stereotypes.

It was a bit muddled, but that is how I read his argument.

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

#106

Post by callmeed »

GuiA wrote: post #97
callmeed wrote: post #62

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…

On the contrary, I'm very glad that HN is as critical as it is. Is it the Only Correct Worldview? Absolutely not, and if you rely primarily on HN to forge your opinion of tech and startups and programming, you're going to be very cynical and blasé. I'm sure that if Donald Knuth posted a "Show HN: I've been writing a book called The Art of Computer Programming", half of the comments would be negative (a fair lot of th…

I'm all for criticism that involves actual analysis and attempts to be constructive. That's not what I saw/see here.

"Show HN" posts are specifically for criticism because (a) the OP asks for it and (b) we can actually put our eyes/ears/fingers on the product in question. This is a Kickstarter page for a product that hasn't even shipped yet. Instead of "I hope they cover loops", we get "she is odd in front of a camera" and "too many alarm bells".

And BTW, I'm all for picking apart "insufferably pompous SV culture"–in fact, I'd love to make some spoof startup videos doing exactly that. That's just not what I'm seeing here.

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

#107

Post by MartinCron »

Confusion wrote: post #102
callmeed wrote: post #62

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…

So downvote and move on. You're not adding anything on topic with this meta comment and you could have foreseen it would hijack the top spot. To add insult to injury, you're being drama-royalty: just because a few nobodies level unfounded criticism at her is not reason to "quit HN for good". Or you would've quit long ago. And instead of rubbing their face in their dumbness by explaining to them how wrong their critic…

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

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

#108

Post by ahuth »

hendzen wrote: post #81
run4_too wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this comment. I thought I was the only one feeling this. I'd say this is a perfect example of why there aren't more women in computers. From what I've seen, a lot of women have a low tolerance for this level of overt critique, regardless of whether the critique is correct or not. There is nothing horrible about this project that warrants a negative view, particularly one that doesn't present any alternativ…

> From what I've seen, a lot of women have a low tolerance for this level of overt critique, regardless of whether the critique is correct or not. Please stop talking.

Thanks for contributing, hendzen. Downvote.

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

#109

Post by shangxiao »

MartinCron wrote: post #107
Confusion wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So downvote and move on. You're not adding anything on topic with this meta comment and you could have foreseen it would hijack the top spot. To add insult to injury, you're being drama-royalty: just because a few nobodies level unfounded criticism at her is not reason to "quit HN for good". Or you would've quit long ago. And instead of rubbing their face in their dumbness by explaining to them how wrong their critic…

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

No there isn't, but the tactic was questionable (imho)

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

#110

Post by callmeed »

Confusion wrote: post #102
callmeed wrote: post #62

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…

So downvote and move on. You're not adding anything on topic with this meta comment and you could have foreseen it would hijack the top spot. To add insult to injury, you're being drama-royalty: just because a few nobodies level unfounded criticism at her is not reason to "quit HN for good". Or you would've quit long ago. And instead of rubbing their face in their dumbness by explaining to them how wrong their critic…

You extrapolated my comment quite a bit. "Doing something" and "complaining" are not mutually exclusive–nor was my complaint about "how annoying the world is".

EDIT: wanted to also add I had no intention/foresight of "hijacking" the top spot. Most of my HN comments get lost in the ether–which I'm perfectly fine with.

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