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> But also, there was no particular reason why the stuff I was doing couldn’t be done by any other elementary schooler, if there were interest in the schools in

> But also, there was no particular reason why the stuff I was doing couldn’t be done by any other elementary schooler, if there were interest in the schools in teaching it. As another 11-year old who experimented hacking the source code to this, along with GORILLAS.BAS, and having limited success, this would have been amazing if the schools taught it. Instead, early 90's "computer class" involved only typing tutors and Oregon Trail. It's a complicated enough program to be fun, structured well, fast iterations since it's interpreted... Just to have a teacher explain a lot of it and then set the kids loose on making their own changes would have been great. An advanced class could re-write it in C or Pascal or create their own new game. It'd still be just as useful today.

MisterTea 4y ago
> Instead, early 90's "computer class" involved only typing tutors and Oregon Trail. Don't forget the LOGO turtle on the Apple II which seemed to be in every damn classroom well into the 90's. It wasn't until 1994 that I sat in front of a PC in high school and even then it was friggin Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor (I snuck Doom onto the LAN to rectify that). Giving a student a simple game with the ability to hack its source is a nice idea. Very basic game, 2d graphics, simple procedural api or language that lets them easily poke at a few lines of code. Start them in a dumb simple IDE, write a hello world, draw a box, make a decision, make a loop, then introduce them to the game and let them open it in the IDE and go nuts. A very vary light weight version of something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak
- bluedino 4y ago
  I always wanted to teach a kid programming by using pacman. Start with a dot on the screen. Move it around. Add a maze. Then use sprites. Add dots. Add scoring. Add ghosts. etc etc
  - MisterTea 4y ago
    Many moons ago when flash was alive and kicking I gave flixel a go and made a simple 2d game. Very strait forward and procedural so you could pick it up very fast. Something like that would be perfect for a 2d game thing. Shame its anchored to a dead technology.

MisterTea 4y ago

> Instead, early 90's "computer class" involved only typing tutors and Oregon Trail. Don't forget the LOGO turtle on the Apple II which seemed to be in every damn classroom well into the 90's. It wasn't until 1994 that I sat in front of a PC in high school and even then it was friggin Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor (I snuck Doom onto the LAN to rectify that). Giving a student a simple game with the ability to hack its source is a nice idea. Very basic game, 2d graphics, simple procedural api or language that lets them easily poke at a few lines of code. Start them in a dumb simple IDE, write a hello world, draw a box, make a decision, make a loop, then introduce them to the game and let them open it in the IDE and go nuts. A very vary light weight version of something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak

bluedino 4y ago
I always wanted to teach a kid programming by using pacman. Start with a dot on the screen. Move it around. Add a maze. Then use sprites. Add dots. Add scoring. Add ghosts. etc etc
- MisterTea 4y ago
  Many moons ago when flash was alive and kicking I gave flixel a go and made a simple 2d game. Very strait forward and procedural so you could pick it up very fast. Something like that would be perfect for a 2d game thing. Shame its anchored to a dead technology.