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It might help to have a bit more background on your nephew and his interests. If he's generally geeky, then Learn Python the Hard Way is excellent - but you ne

It might help to have a bit more background on your nephew and his interests. If he's generally geeky, then Learn Python the Hard Way is excellent - but you need to already be very motivated to sit down and work through the exercises. Similarly, Hello World! is a good book for the complete beginner, but a 17 year old might find it a bit easy. And based on the reviewers who've looked at it so far, Hello Python! tends to do well with relative beginners, but complete novices find it a bit hard, and it annoys the hell out of some experienced programmers - not sure why, I think it's because I don't explain everything in detail and gloss over to the interesting bits :) Have you considered something along the lines of an Arduino + book? Some people seem to get a kick out of making things actually happen, rather than just appear on a screen...

rcamera 15y ago
I second the arduino + book suggestion. I had a tough time learning how to program, I had trouble motivating myself because all the things I wanted to do were complex, and "Hello World" programs aren't motivating, just letters on a screen... After I got my first Lego Mindstorm robot (13 yrs-old), I got more interested, but it was a pretty limited robot. It wasn't until I started playing Second Life (15-16 yrs old) and learned their scripting language (and even made some money) that I got highly motivated, because I could see things happening and it was quite easy. I would say an Arduino + book would have motivated me even further than SL. I know Wiring (Arduino's programming language, which is pretty similar to C) isn't as pretty as python, but when you are coding for the first time, you don't mind syntax, all you care is being able to finish the challenges you (or someone) set for yourself. EDIT: I don't know any beginner arduino book, but Make magazine and some Make books available in O'Reilly seem to be good resources.

rcamera 15y ago

I second the arduino + book suggestion. I had a tough time learning how to program, I had trouble motivating myself because all the things I wanted to do were complex, and "Hello World" programs aren't motivating, just letters on a screen... After I got my first Lego Mindstorm robot (13 yrs-old), I got more interested, but it was a pretty limited robot. It wasn't until I started playing Second Life (15-16 yrs old) and learned their scripting language (and even made some money) that I got highly motivated, because I could see things happening and it was quite easy. I would say an Arduino + book would have motivated me even further than SL. I know Wiring (Arduino's programming language, which is pretty similar to C) isn't as pretty as python, but when you are coding for the first time, you don't mind syntax, all you care is being able to finish the challenges you (or someone) set for yourself. EDIT: I don't know any beginner arduino book, but Make magazine and some Make books available in O'Reilly seem to be good resources.