4 ms·

And kids, this is how I learned to program.

kar1181 7y ago
And just look at how much simpler it is compared to modern kids programming materials. The code is denser but there's less of it, and far far less bootstrapping. I think that is the killer right now, the amount of barriers to moving pixels on the screen is very high relative to how it was for us on the 8bits.
- jansan 7y ago
  Another killer is that kids expect much more from a computer nowadays. Being able to move around a block on the screen was something that you could impress your nerd friends with, but today, what can you possibly program in a few lines of code to impress kids?
  - Marazan 7y ago
    https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23tweetcart&src=typed_query https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23tweetcart&src=typed_q...
  - Moru 7y ago
    Actually kids can be pretty impressed if they did the program themselves. They think it's all magic until they try it on their own, also makes them more understanding for others work and bugs. Less acidic when it comes to judging others work on the play-store.
- vidarh 7y ago
  I'm playing with DragonRuby now [1]. It lacks a lot (but is coming along very rapidly). It's aimed at adults wanting to build real games, but what appealed to me was exactly that the barrier to get started is extremely low compared to most game engines out there. I particularly dislike the IDE-based ones that expects you to learn a custom environment and build a lot of the game visually. [1] https://dragonruby.itch.io/ https://dragonruby.itch.io/
  - Moru 7y ago
    I love GLBasic. It's a basic with types (sort of classes). Also has 3D grafics but I mostly used it for 2D. It's on steam now and can export to several platforms other than windows. It has been around for quite a while, there is little to no bootstrapping needed and it's fast. You can also write inline C if you need more speed. I haven't had the chance to try android export yet but I have seen some people from the community put up things there recently so it does work. [1] http://www.glbasic.com/ http://www.glbasic.com/
- astrobe_ 7y ago
  The kids of today would probably much more interested in doing something fun with their smartphones than doing something on a fatass PC. A smartphone is actually much more interesting than a computer, when you look at it (camera, microphone, gyroscope, GPS, Bluetooth...).
  - ecpottinger 7y ago
    But how do you write a program to run on your phone?
    - zeepzeep 7y ago
      Compile golang with GOOS=android and run the tool in Termux for example.
- greggman3 7y ago
  I don't know if it's actually simpler than Scratch. On the other hand if you want something like this for kids now there's Pico-8. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php Even has a discount for teachers. Only one copy needed for the entire class in school https://www.lexaloffle.com/info.php?page=schools https://www.lexaloffle.com/info.php?page=schools
  - Moru 7y ago
    TIC-80 is pretty nice too.
- keyle 7y ago
  Expectations are also much higher.

And just look at how much simpler it is compared to modern kids programming materials. The code is denser but there's less of it, and far far less bootstrapping. I think that is the killer right now, the amount of barriers to moving pixels on the screen is very high relative to how it was for us on the 8bits.

jansan 7y ago
Another killer is that kids expect much more from a computer nowadays. Being able to move around a block on the screen was something that you could impress your nerd friends with, but today, what can you possibly program in a few lines of code to impress kids?
- Marazan 7y ago
  https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23tweetcart&src=typed_query https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=%23tweetcart&src=typed_q...
- Moru 7y ago
  Actually kids can be pretty impressed if they did the program themselves. They think it's all magic until they try it on their own, also makes them more understanding for others work and bugs. Less acidic when it comes to judging others work on the play-store.
vidarh 7y ago
I'm playing with DragonRuby now [1]. It lacks a lot (but is coming along very rapidly). It's aimed at adults wanting to build real games, but what appealed to me was exactly that the barrier to get started is extremely low compared to most game engines out there. I particularly dislike the IDE-based ones that expects you to learn a custom environment and build a lot of the game visually. [1] https://dragonruby.itch.io/ https://dragonruby.itch.io/
- Moru 7y ago
  I love GLBasic. It's a basic with types (sort of classes). Also has 3D grafics but I mostly used it for 2D. It's on steam now and can export to several platforms other than windows. It has been around for quite a while, there is little to no bootstrapping needed and it's fast. You can also write inline C if you need more speed. I haven't had the chance to try android export yet but I have seen some people from the community put up things there recently so it does work. [1] http://www.glbasic.com/ http://www.glbasic.com/
astrobe_ 7y ago
The kids of today would probably much more interested in doing something fun with their smartphones than doing something on a fatass PC. A smartphone is actually much more interesting than a computer, when you look at it (camera, microphone, gyroscope, GPS, Bluetooth...).
- ecpottinger 7y ago
  But how do you write a program to run on your phone?
  - zeepzeep 7y ago
    Compile golang with GOOS=android and run the tool in Termux for example.
greggman3 7y ago
I don't know if it's actually simpler than Scratch. On the other hand if you want something like this for kids now there's Pico-8. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php Even has a discount for teachers. Only one copy needed for the entire class in school https://www.lexaloffle.com/info.php?page=schools https://www.lexaloffle.com/info.php?page=schools
- Moru 7y ago
  TIC-80 is pretty nice too.
keyle 7y ago
Expectations are also much higher.