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Python sure. Moving into... Ruby possibly, or potentially PHP (if you combine it with one of the better/easier frameworks) and then HTML. The latter ones becau
by ErrantX 15y ago
Python sure. Moving into... Ruby possibly, or potentially PHP (if you combine it with one of the better/easier frameworks) and then HTML.
The latter ones because you can start to get them to deploy/work on websites. Being able to write websites is a generally useful skill nowadays (even if you don't go into programming.. all my family need/want websites, for example).
I teach an after school IT club and a project to maintain/develop a site on the school intranet has consistently been the favourite :) Because it's something functional and visible!
(and also a good opportunity to teach about security issues what with the trial-by-fire environment a school brings :D)
EDIT: the other good thing about web-dev is that it needs a few different skills - design, back-end coding, infrastructure/sysops and databases which a) gives them a taster of all the career opportunities and b) lets different people "shine" in different areas, and contribute their strongest skill to the final project.
- Tichy 15y agoWhile I prefer Ruby to Python, Ruby has horrible documentation and therefore is quite painful to learn. You pretty much need to buy a couple of books.
- tuukkah 15y agoWhen you get to know Python, you don't need to "move into" Ruby or (shudder) PHP. It's much easier to learn a web programming framework in Python and how to deploy it, rather than to learn how your second programming language differs from Python. The sad state of client-side programming is that you need to learn a lot about the messy world of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Come to think of it, CoffeeScript might be a good language to start with today?
- ErrantX 15y agoshrug In my experience PHP or Ruby is generally a better/easier web programming experience (I tried Python but it never really clicked with the kids). Python is a good general purpose language though.