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Ask HN: Teaching kids to program?

6 points by matheweis ↗ HN
Somewhere around the age of 6-7, my Dad taught my the basics of programming in HyperCard (HyperTalk) on his Mac SE. There were whole worlds inside of HyperCard Stacks, and it was so much fun playing around with my home card and very basic scripts that played music, drew things on the screen, bounced around clip art figures, etc.

I also played with BASIC around the same time, and have rather fond memories of sneaking into his office and making little "Hello World" type programs on his Casio FX-5200P when he wasn't paying attention.

My oldest son will be turning 6 later this year and he has developed a great interest in mobile devices and such lately, so I'm looking for something that would provide a similar experience to mine, but within the context of his generation.

I don't think the robot turtles type of board games are really it. Intuitively I feel like I'm looking for a mobile app that is some kind of cross between Quartz Composer and Hypercard, but then I'm not really sure what I'm looking for either. Anyone have any input?

(I've looked at the previous asks here, but they are either > 3 years old - a lot has changed - or didn't have any traction.)

10 comments

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rashkov
Have you looked at Microsoft touchdevelop? This might be just the thing
matheweis
Never heard of it. Looks interesting, feels a bit clunky, but I'll give it a go.
rashkov
Yeah I suppose you're right -- I was hoping it'd be less clunky on mobile but I tried it and it's not much better. Scratch from MIT seems to be more promising but there is no mobile client unfortunately
dragonbonheur
Here is my answer for a recent ask. I hope you will find it helpful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11512466

Edit: Addendum- RFO BASIC is a great way to make apps for Android, on Android http://rfobasic.com http://laughton.com/basic/

matheweis
That is a very nice list, so please don't take it the wrong way that it's not what I'm looking for.

It is increasingly apparent that the next generation is going to be using mobile - perhaps exclusively - so I'm looking for something mobile specific.

Edit: I should clarify by mobile specific that I mean the app itself runs on mobile, not just something that can target a mobile app.

huike
Programmers of the next generation will not use tablets or smartphones as a development platform.
matheweis
You may be right, but I don't think they will be using desktops either. Perhaps some kind of virtual desktop enabled by VR/AR.

I work on a college campus, and a significant and increasing number of kids have no laptop or desktop at all.

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aib
I volunteer at a CoderDojo in Istanbul. We currently teach 7-11 year olds, though we had a 6-year-old for a few months and she fit in nicely.

Actually, ours is more of a Maker dojo; we do electronics and more classical kids' activities as well, depending on their interests at the time.

For all its shortcomings, Scratch has been the cornerstone of our program. I strongly recommend giving it a try and see where it takes your kid.

For a 6 year old and as a mobile app, Scratch Jr. might be more appropriate. It's usually what we suggest younger siblings (4-6) to try. We've also used it successfully in the past as a stepping stone.

Then there's App Inventor, block based and very similar to Scratch, which lets you create Android applications. We have some older kids (12, 13) making money off Play Store :)

Consider joining a Coder Dojo. Also consider founding one yourself.

(Sorry if this is too concise. I'm tired and on mobile)