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Recommendation: Python might be too advanced of a start. Seriously. Check out some simler frameworks that are geared more strongly towards game development. E

Recommendation: Python might be too advanced of a start. Seriously. Check out some simler frameworks that are geared more strongly towards game development. Even as an experienced programmer, I still gravitate towards the Love2D framework for getting an idea on screen quickly, (for 2D stuff anyway) because it handily masks away all of the libraries and support hardware. So long as I can navigate the Lua programming language, I can have moving characters onscreen responding to keyboard input in about an hour. https://love2d.org/ https://love2d.org/ Point being here, don't underestimate the value of instant gratification. As much as that sounds like what you're trying to avoid, since that's exactly what YouTube and social media feel like to an outside observer, that instant gratification loop of "change code, run game, see results" is crucial for the early developmental stages. Let your kid learn through experience how fun it can be to program the basics, and then stumble on something more complex that he wants to do organically, or bump into a limit of the framework, and at that point he'll know enough about the tools to be nudged towards tackling the harder stuff.

johnny313 9y ago
Thats a great idea. We started in python mostly because of a book he found at the library. Love2D looks like a great option, thanks for sharing!
rbanffy 9y ago
> Python might be too advanced of a start. I have that feeling. I learned BASIC on an 8-bit computer where the command prompt was a BASIC REPL. That's probably the best abstraction level for learning to program.
- zeta0134 9y ago
  Funny you mention that! My first programming language was TI-BASIC, on an old TI-83 Plus. That language is wonderfully simple, slow enough to watch the execution happen almost in realtime, and tolerant enough that for the longest time, I didn't know what the "End" token did, and my programs would crash after a while, infinitely recursing into If blocks because I simply didn't know any better. Good times! After a while, I figured out that all the best games were written in this mystical "Assembly" stuff, which ran a lot faster and could, with some wizardry, do greyscale! I taught myself z80 programming without ever stopping to think that it might be difficult. Later, I realized this is a Junior level college course in a great many degree programs. Who knew? For me, it was just another step on the path to making games instead of doing my math homework.
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    The kind of BASIC that did fit on 8-bit computers is a non-intimidating low-level programming language. All variables are global, you have jumps and subroutines, but no named (multi-line) functions and conditionals most of the time end in jumps that go over a segment of code. Conceptually, it's incredibly simple and I think this is its most important contribution.

johnny313 9y ago

Thats a great idea. We started in python mostly because of a book he found at the library. Love2D looks like a great option, thanks for sharing!

rbanffy 9y ago

> Python might be too advanced of a start. I have that feeling. I learned BASIC on an 8-bit computer where the command prompt was a BASIC REPL. That's probably the best abstraction level for learning to program.

zeta0134 9y ago
Funny you mention that! My first programming language was TI-BASIC, on an old TI-83 Plus. That language is wonderfully simple, slow enough to watch the execution happen almost in realtime, and tolerant enough that for the longest time, I didn't know what the "End" token did, and my programs would crash after a while, infinitely recursing into If blocks because I simply didn't know any better. Good times! After a while, I figured out that all the best games were written in this mystical "Assembly" stuff, which ran a lot faster and could, with some wizardry, do greyscale! I taught myself z80 programming without ever stopping to think that it might be difficult. Later, I realized this is a Junior level college course in a great many degree programs. Who knew? For me, it was just another step on the path to making games instead of doing my math homework.
- rbanffy 9y ago
  The kind of BASIC that did fit on 8-bit computers is a non-intimidating low-level programming language. All variables are global, you have jumps and subroutines, but no named (multi-line) functions and conditionals most of the time end in jumps that go over a segment of code. Conceptually, it's incredibly simple and I think this is its most important contribution.