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:  |  What's a good programming/web language for a young child?
What's a good programming/web language for a young child to learn? My son is 6, and is showing interest in computers, so I figured I'd ask on here.
A colleague of mine suggested BASIC.
I'd ideally want something that could be done through a basic IDE or text editor that could be on both Linux and Windows.
I've already shown my son very, very basic Perl (just a Hello, World). I don't know much about Perl myself, so I'd want something he could grasp fairly easily (since he's 6), and do basic stuff with.
Any thoughts or ideas? Started By Monte on Jun 13, 2011 at 8:27:28 AM | | | 8 Response(s) | Reply |
| View All Replies | Goto Page: 2 1 | | | Terry Young on Jul 11, 2011 at 7:38:48 AM When I was young, the very first thing I was exposed to that is close to programming was LOGO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)
It was an eye-opener for me because I felt like, "hey, I can actually control this thing, and I can actually create something original.". Many years later I picked up interest in Visual Basic 5 myself.
Just recently I found out there's Small Basic.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ff384126.aspx
My daughter is just two months old now. But if she shows the same interest at the same age as your son, I'd definitely pick Small Basic. It even has a curriculum. And a concept of 'graduation'.
I like the thought of it that it takes little effort to produce something that makes a child feel he/she has accomplished something, and that there's actually a goal to accomplish (i.e. to graduate). Plus, a child at that age needs to strengthen one's maths first. And if he/she is really good at it real quick, take on geometry.
The experience should be both playful, encouraging and satisfying. It should be an eye-opener, not something that needs to be too serious about.
Looking at a screen with only text all day long isn't really play. It's what I do everyday as an adult, i.e. work. And often frustrating.
And I can't imagine myself explaining the concepts of variables, arrays and stuff. Don't even start on explaining what should a child do when wierd errors occur. It might actually be discouraging.
Yep, Small Basic would be my choice.
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