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I don't know the full story but this kinda lines up with what I wanted to say about the topic. My GFs kid was not at all interested in what I did, until it cou

I don't know the full story but this kinda lines up with what I wanted to say about the topic. My GFs kid was not at all interested in what I did, until it could relate to her friends at school. Apparently some of the boys at school had used Devtools to modify a class website and add dirty words or whatever it is they do. So I showed her at home how to go into Devtools and change the appearance of the teaching portal they had. That really captivated her because it was something she could show off to her friends. Same with the calculator. I remember kids having those at school and programming them when I was young. It was something you could actually bring to school and show off, it was something relevant to all kids because they all had to get one. Another modern suggestion would be mobile app dev.

avmich 6y ago
Deserves Kevin Mitnick's medal. We likely should think hard about creating good opportunities to rebellious learning of computers at schools.
- divbzero 6y ago
  Many clever computer tricks I saw in high school were ways to get around restrictions set by school admins, including an IP blocker that my classmate helped me bypass so I could check my personal email for college admissions results.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
> until it could relate to her friends at school. Perhaps that's the key for making something stick, beyond "immediate practical applications". I learned programming as a kid because I played videogames, and started dreaming about making my own. But at the same time, I also had people I could talk to about it! At age 10, my cousin and I were constantly discussing how to make StarCraft and Fallout better. At age 13, when I first picked a C++ book (after prior failed attempts of other people to expose me to Basic, Pascal and VB) with intent to learn gamedev, I had a friend at school who decided to learn C++ as well. Over the year, we've managed to drag a third person into learning to code, and another one as a spectator to what turned into years of trying to one-up each other in doing shit in OpenGL. And then I got on-line and discovered a local gamedev community, where again, I could participate in mutual showing-off. Point being, as I re-evaluate my early years of coding, I notice I always had someone to talk to who could relate, or at least be impressed (real!impressed, not fake "I don't understand or care about any of this but go you!" parent!impressed). Looking at all these stories here about programming to automate homework - which presumably also impressed classmates - I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a necessary condition for a kid to get into programming.
FourthProtocol 6y ago
First, respect for taking the time to teach her. Second, I have difficulty writing this exctly because of the last sentence, will do so anyway - I taught myself to program in 1984, two years before finishing high school. That and being on the chess team pretty much killed my social life and any chance at carnal activities until I turned 21 (high school was followed by compulsory consription for 2 years). I struggled with that. Today I note that impressing friends and strangers has become very big business. Influencers. Looked at one this morning on Instagram. This dude had muscles, gave thed impression of owning a Bently, a curvy girlfriend and a house in Majorca. No clue as to how he eant a living or obtained that wealth. Assuming those material posessions are his. These things are the antithesis of what I went through, even though today I have the means to aquire everything from the Bently to the large-breatsed blonde in a house on the Costa Del Sol. And yet that prospect fills me with dread because it's vacuous. There's no meaning or value behind it. Same goes for teaching someone something for the purpose of becoming popular or impressing others. Seriously please don't take this as criticism. ANY time spent with kids is time well spent. I guess where I'm going with all of this is that I hope to teach my 8y/o boy to seek out meaningful, rewarding relationships and experiences that build him up. Without a need for others' approval. And I have vague ideas how I might do that but in a practical sense I'm at a loss and that scares me. And I would LOVE to teach him how to program but so far I've made no progress. Part of being a dad I guess. Happily I've discovered that if I want a thing enough I find a way. Patience...
- INTPenis 6y ago
  Well there are different ways of looking at impressing your friends. Funny but I have two replies to my comment, one saying they became proficient at programming by competing with their friends in games programming and discussing together how their work could improve. And your reply taking a completely different direction about showing off with cars and women. It seems the morale is that youths like to show off, regardless if it's with a car or with their code.
- CloudNetworking 6y ago
  You would enjoy a Bentley if you liked Bentleys or certain kind of cars and enjoyed driving them. You would love a big house in Majorca if you were from the area and had a big family -or plans for it- and you would love to be with the person you'd love to be. Those are just examples. There may be a thousand more reasons why you'd love those. The fact that you don't like Bentleys, big houses in Majorca or a specific lady does not make them vacuous or meaningless; not to mention it would be 100% rewarding if those were your dreams and you've accomplished them. That guy may or may not like those, but appeals to people that would love -or they think they would- those. The same goes for any other dreams we have.

avmich 6y ago

Deserves Kevin Mitnick's medal. We likely should think hard about creating good opportunities to rebellious learning of computers at schools.

divbzero 6y ago
Many clever computer tricks I saw in high school were ways to get around restrictions set by school admins, including an IP blocker that my classmate helped me bypass so I could check my personal email for college admissions results.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

> until it could relate to her friends at school. Perhaps that's the key for making something stick, beyond "immediate practical applications". I learned programming as a kid because I played videogames, and started dreaming about making my own. But at the same time, I also had people I could talk to about it! At age 10, my cousin and I were constantly discussing how to make StarCraft and Fallout better. At age 13, when I first picked a C++ book (after prior failed attempts of other people to expose me to Basic, Pascal and VB) with intent to learn gamedev, I had a friend at school who decided to learn C++ as well. Over the year, we've managed to drag a third person into learning to code, and another one as a spectator to what turned into years of trying to one-up each other in doing shit in OpenGL. And then I got on-line and discovered a local gamedev community, where again, I could participate in mutual showing-off. Point being, as I re-evaluate my early years of coding, I notice I always had someone to talk to who could relate, or at least be impressed (real!impressed, not fake "I don't understand or care about any of this but go you!" parent!impressed). Looking at all these stories here about programming to automate homework - which presumably also impressed classmates - I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a necessary condition for a kid to get into programming.

FourthProtocol 6y ago

First, respect for taking the time to teach her. Second, I have difficulty writing this exctly because of the last sentence, will do so anyway - I taught myself to program in 1984, two years before finishing high school. That and being on the chess team pretty much killed my social life and any chance at carnal activities until I turned 21 (high school was followed by compulsory consription for 2 years). I struggled with that. Today I note that impressing friends and strangers has become very big business. Influencers. Looked at one this morning on Instagram. This dude had muscles, gave thed impression of owning a Bently, a curvy girlfriend and a house in Majorca. No clue as to how he eant a living or obtained that wealth. Assuming those material posessions are his. These things are the antithesis of what I went through, even though today I have the means to aquire everything from the Bently to the large-breatsed blonde in a house on the Costa Del Sol. And yet that prospect fills me with dread because it's vacuous. There's no meaning or value behind it. Same goes for teaching someone something for the purpose of becoming popular or impressing others. Seriously please don't take this as criticism. ANY time spent with kids is time well spent. I guess where I'm going with all of this is that I hope to teach my 8y/o boy to seek out meaningful, rewarding relationships and experiences that build him up. Without a need for others' approval. And I have vague ideas how I might do that but in a practical sense I'm at a loss and that scares me. And I would LOVE to teach him how to program but so far I've made no progress. Part of being a dad I guess. Happily I've discovered that if I want a thing enough I find a way. Patience...

INTPenis 6y ago
Well there are different ways of looking at impressing your friends. Funny but I have two replies to my comment, one saying they became proficient at programming by competing with their friends in games programming and discussing together how their work could improve. And your reply taking a completely different direction about showing off with cars and women. It seems the morale is that youths like to show off, regardless if it's with a car or with their code.
CloudNetworking 6y ago
You would enjoy a Bentley if you liked Bentleys or certain kind of cars and enjoyed driving them. You would love a big house in Majorca if you were from the area and had a big family -or plans for it- and you would love to be with the person you'd love to be. Those are just examples. There may be a thousand more reasons why you'd love those. The fact that you don't like Bentleys, big houses in Majorca or a specific lady does not make them vacuous or meaningless; not to mention it would be 100% rewarding if those were your dreams and you've accomplished them. That guy may or may not like those, but appeals to people that would love -or they think they would- those. The same goes for any other dreams we have.