Women in Technology

Article:		Elementary Computer Graphics: Drawing with Pixels
Subject:		Programming for Kids
Date:		2003-12-17 07:28:14
From:		anonymous2
Response to: Programming for Kids
O.K. Tcl might put them off but... As mentioned in the article, RealBasic was out of the budget. As for Python... it's a little dry. The ability to make something like a draw program will excite the kids more (nice direct feedback.) Then over time one can introduce more complex concepts and languages. (Of course I'm the father who had his one year old daughter sitting on my knee while setting up an OpenBSD firewall, so she's doomed already...)

Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.

• Programming for Kids
  2003-12-18 10:56:33  bazzargh [View]
  
  
  I thought about suggesting Logo since it was created for this purpose, but reading the docs for StarLogo I wonder how they ever thought this was suitable for kids?
  
  Something that is pretty good is Squeak. Hey, it was written at Disney, it must be for children. But seriously, its direct-manipulation graphics toolkit makes it fairly easy to build interesting apps, and the 3d authoring tool is brilliant, here's a shot of the demo:
  
  http://www.squeak.org/images/3D_large.gif
  
  ...the best bit is when the rabbit turns to look at you. Freaky.
  
  A lot of squeak use is squarely aimed at schoolchildren, so there's plenty of material:
  http://www.squeakland.org/
  
• Programming for Kids
  2003-12-19 18:45:58  anonymous2 [View]
  
  
  The language doesn't matter (you can pick up a language in a weekend). Its logic that matters, and drawing graphics on the screen is a great way to get instant feedback on logic errors.
  
  Why not Logo? In particular, ACSLogo? Its one of the MacDevCenter's Innovators Contest Winners (2nd place). <http://www.alancsmith.co.uk/>
  
  Its got a nice simple interface and its free.