The original poster's first suggestion was Squeak. It is a variation of Smalltalk, a "real" programming language, that is focused on being approachable and fun

The original poster's first suggestion was Squeak. It is a variation of Smalltalk, a "real" programming language, that is focused on being approachable and fun for children. I find it rather fun as an adult, too, and would highly recommend trying it out. If you are using Smalltalk to introduce programming to a child, I suggest downloading the eToys version from Squeakland: http://www.squeakland.org/ http://www.squeakland.org/ Adults interested in using Smalltalk for developing sophisticated web applications should take a look at Seaside: http://seaside.st/ http://seaside.st/