I looked around the Make WOnder site for a github repo or something to download and try the language. Don't see it. How do we try this out? I have co-taught a Scratch club 4 times for kids in the 10-12 yr old range. And will teach a Python club in the coming Fall semester for kids in the 10-14 yr old range. I am nto a real teacher but am lucky to work with a CS professor from a local college. For the Python class I a…
Wonder seems to be entirely closed of within their apps.
Only available on mobile / tablets
I've always been suspicious of the looks-like-an-animal-with-a-name-and-a-smiley-face-I'm-a-grown-up-and-this-is-what-kids-like approach. I remember one of the coolest things about the apple II was that you could 'poke' the right memory address and get the speaker to click. That was magic when I was 12 and it didn't need a friendly name and a stupid grin. Until they're old enough for K&R (12?, 13?, 14?), maybe they s…
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise.
I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs.
Anyone know how to get this, without buying a c64 + CRT monitor?
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise. I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs. Anyone know how to get this, without bu…
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise. I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs. Anyone know how to get this, without bu…
Most platforms don't have a power-on equivalent, but BASIC derivatives with better sound/graphics/etc. APIs [0] are widely available (the particular selection will depend on platform, e.g., RFO-BASIC for Android.)
[*] well, maybe not better in all cases; for lots of simple things, some of the 1980s home computer BASICs had pretty good simple sound synthesis APIs.
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise. I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs. Anyone know how to get this, without bu…
Hit F12 in a web browser.
Hit / in minecraft (more effective if you install scriptcraft first).
Why aren't kids able to read text written in rows like everyone else? Programming languages just for kids seems mostly like a way to limit them.
Because they aren't very good at reading yet, because they're kids. And for some reason, kids often prioritize having fun over using the most efficient representation possible.
> Because they aren't very good at reading yet, because they're kids.
I'm not sure, but I think it may be the case that the best solution for teaching children programming at the point where "they aren't very good at reading yet" is to address that problem first. You can be a kid and be good at reading. I've known several, both when I was a kid myself and now that I'm an adult.
I looked around the Make WOnder site for a github repo or something to download and try the language. Don't see it. How do we try this out? I have co-taught a Scratch club 4 times for kids in the 10-12 yr old range. And will teach a Python club in the coming Fall semester for kids in the 10-14 yr old range. I am nto a real teacher but am lucky to work with a CS professor from a local college. For the Python class I a…
Have you tried http://www.alice.org with kids at all? I remember it helping me when I was younger.
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise. I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs. Anyone know how to get this, without bu…
I've been building a very simple development "portable" PC using a 7" TFT display, wireless keyboard, and a Raspberry Pi. At the moment, it just boots into a Linux login shell, but you can program it to boot into a desktop environment if you want (and if you have the power luxuries!). Of course, the Linux environment may be too much for kids, but this might be close to what you want. Also a decent overall price: altogether so far, I've paid a little less than $100 for this whole setup ($30 for the display, $35 for the RPi, $25 for the keyboard), though you could get it for much cheaper using a Raspberry Pi Zero ($5!) and a cheaper keyboard.
Why is BASIC totally left out? An entire generation was inspired by power-on basic in C64 and other platforms. More than just "inspired"... Some huge amount of today's technology wouldn't exist otherwise. I know I'm stuck in the past, but that's what I want for my kids. Flip open the laptop and boom, theres my programming environment, except now with easier graphics/sound APIs. Anyone know how to get this, without bu…
Get either FreeBASIC+IDE, BlitzMax, BlitzPlus, FnxBASIC, Browser BASIC or MonkeyX and place a shortcut to the program in the Startup folder on Windows.