5 ms·

Codea is on sale for 1 dollar, grab it and teach your child programming

67 points by antirez 15y ago

antirez 15y ago
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated at all with Codea, I just happen to like it and to think it is a very good thing for children. iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171?mt=8
- _corbett 15y ago
  awesome to know! I just saw this the other day and made a note to buy it you should also teach your daughter to program, the title of your link is pretty much the definition of sexist
  - bulte-rs 15y ago
    Exactly! I'm currently expecting my first child; but putting the purchase of this app on hold until I know for sure I'll get a son. ;-)
thehodge 15y ago
Would probably change the title to teach your child programming... have bought the app anyway :)
dextorious 15y ago
The title is a DISGRACE! What about the 1% of the audience that will teach their daughter instead? This extreme sexist attitude is why there aren't enough women startup founders --and not enough women at the parties me and my buddies throw, like last month's "Yacc and Lex Appreciation Party". We even had free Jolt Cola!
- jawns 15y ago
  The OP is from Italy; it may be the case that English is not his first language, and that he simply made an error.
- AdamN 15y ago
  I have to imagine that the title was written by a non-native english speaker - or it was a crude joke. In this day and age, I can't imagine a native english speaker using gendered language in this situation.
- talmand 15y ago
  Wow, overreact much?
  - mooism2 15y ago
    Did you see the original title before the OP changed it? I thought dextorious's comment was intended to satirise both the people who complain about sexism in hacker culture, and the people who insist there's no sexism in hacker culture.
    - talmand 15y ago
      I did not, but I know what the original title was. I just don't feel the need to make assumptions based on a line of text when I may not understand the context. I, for one, would not accuse someone of sexism because they chose "your son" over "your child". This is a big world, different people from different cultures have different ways of saying things. I have to admit, I did sense a hint of sarcasm to the post but I suppose it was too subtle for me.
      - mooism2 15y ago
        My objection was only ever that the title was sexist. I didn't accuse antirez of being sexist, and I didn't see anyone else accuse antirez of being sexist. It's unfortunate that dextorious's comment led you to believe that people opposed to sexism were making assumptions.
  - doktrin 15y ago
    It was clearly a tongue in cheek response.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - dextorious 15y ago
    Actually, I find the whole thing a non-issue. I was just mocking similar responses prevalent in a lot of HN comments...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
tlear 15y ago
This is actually a great title it will draw in more traffic because of the supposed controversy of it
antirez 15y ago
Title changed, sorry, I did an error because of my poor English. In Italian if you say "your son" there is not a strong correlation with the gender. EDIT: To everybody that signaled this news because there was an error in the title: now it is outside the listing, and many daughters (and sons) lost the possibility of being exposed to it. Overreacting is always bad. EDIT2: considering the issue again, overreacting is probably better than overlooking this kind of issue...
- mooism2 15y ago
  Thanks. (I have removed my flag, and hope everyone else who flagged it removes their flags too.)
  - antirez 15y ago
    Thank you. Btw I'll make sure to avoid this error in the future.
    - bulte-rs 15y ago
      No real harm done. I was not aware that in Italian - having a gramatical dependency on genders - "your son" would be considered as "your kiddo". I was sure to teach my hypothetical (as in Schroedinger hypothetical) daughter to code anyway ;-)
      - mooism2 15y ago
        Everything is a learning exercise.
      - antirez 15y ago
        basically in Italian there is no neutral like "children", you can say "your sons" (i tuoi figli) or "your daughters" (le tue figlie), and to say it generally you use the male gender. There is no way to say it in a mostly unbiased way using the singular, but just the plural, and still it is "your sons".
Jun8 15y ago
This is great news, wanted to buy this for a long time, now there's no reason to do it. On a linguistic note, though: this small mistake exposes an interesting rift between what's understood to be "sexist language" in the US and in Europe. People are hypersensitive about this issue in the US, typical example is using constructs like "he or she" or just always using the feminine pronoun, with the argument that (I'm simplifying it, of course, so that the margin can hold it) consistent use of "he", say in scientific writing, discourages women from participating. What always amazed me is that in European countries with a solid track record of feminism, such linguistic issues do not matter. In German, the use of "Mann" is common, there are many female nouns derived from the masculine forms, e.g. "die Hackerin" (discussed on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2908972 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2908972, akin to the -ess ending in English), etc. In French, even if there is only one male in a group, it is referred to using the masculine plural. Many more examples can be given (the "your son" vs "your child" mistake in the title being another one), which to the US ear would be cases of sexism. Yet, this "sexist usage" does not seem to have the negative consequence on female performance in Europe. What gives?
richardg 15y ago
This is a great app.. Just bought it! Makes me take a look at Lua too..

67 points by antirez 15y ago

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated at all with Codea, I just happen to like it and to think it is a very good thing for children. iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171?mt=8

_corbett 15y ago
awesome to know! I just saw this the other day and made a note to buy it you should also teach your daughter to program, the title of your link is pretty much the definition of sexist
- bulte-rs 15y ago
  Exactly! I'm currently expecting my first child; but putting the purchase of this app on hold until I know for sure I'll get a son. ;-)

thehodge 15y ago

Would probably change the title to teach your child programming... have bought the app anyway :)

dextorious 15y ago

The title is a DISGRACE! What about the 1% of the audience that will teach their daughter instead? This extreme sexist attitude is why there aren't enough women startup founders --and not enough women at the parties me and my buddies throw, like last month's "Yacc and Lex Appreciation Party". We even had free Jolt Cola!

jawns 15y ago
The OP is from Italy; it may be the case that English is not his first language, and that he simply made an error.
AdamN 15y ago
I have to imagine that the title was written by a non-native english speaker - or it was a crude joke. In this day and age, I can't imagine a native english speaker using gendered language in this situation.
talmand 15y ago
Wow, overreact much?
- mooism2 15y ago
  Did you see the original title before the OP changed it? I thought dextorious's comment was intended to satirise both the people who complain about sexism in hacker culture, and the people who insist there's no sexism in hacker culture.
  - talmand 15y ago
    I did not, but I know what the original title was. I just don't feel the need to make assumptions based on a line of text when I may not understand the context. I, for one, would not accuse someone of sexism because they chose "your son" over "your child". This is a big world, different people from different cultures have different ways of saying things. I have to admit, I did sense a hint of sarcasm to the post but I suppose it was too subtle for me.
    - mooism2 15y ago
      My objection was only ever that the title was sexist. I didn't accuse antirez of being sexist, and I didn't see anyone else accuse antirez of being sexist. It's unfortunate that dextorious's comment led you to believe that people opposed to sexism were making assumptions.
- doktrin 15y ago
  It was clearly a tongue in cheek response.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- dextorious 15y ago
  Actually, I find the whole thing a non-issue. I was just mocking similar responses prevalent in a lot of HN comments...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

tlear 15y ago

This is actually a great title it will draw in more traffic because of the supposed controversy of it

antirez 15y ago

Title changed, sorry, I did an error because of my poor English. In Italian if you say "your son" there is not a strong correlation with the gender. EDIT: To everybody that signaled this news because there was an error in the title: now it is outside the listing, and many daughters (and sons) lost the possibility of being exposed to it. Overreacting is always bad. EDIT2: considering the issue again, overreacting is probably better than overlooking this kind of issue...

mooism2 15y ago
Thanks. (I have removed my flag, and hope everyone else who flagged it removes their flags too.)
- antirez 15y ago
  Thank you. Btw I'll make sure to avoid this error in the future.
  - bulte-rs 15y ago
    No real harm done. I was not aware that in Italian - having a gramatical dependency on genders - "your son" would be considered as "your kiddo". I was sure to teach my hypothetical (as in Schroedinger hypothetical) daughter to code anyway ;-)
    - mooism2 15y ago
      Everything is a learning exercise.
    - antirez 15y ago
      basically in Italian there is no neutral like "children", you can say "your sons" (i tuoi figli) or "your daughters" (le tue figlie), and to say it generally you use the male gender. There is no way to say it in a mostly unbiased way using the singular, but just the plural, and still it is "your sons".

Jun8 15y ago

This is great news, wanted to buy this for a long time, now there's no reason to do it. On a linguistic note, though: this small mistake exposes an interesting rift between what's understood to be "sexist language" in the US and in Europe. People are hypersensitive about this issue in the US, typical example is using constructs like "he or she" or just always using the feminine pronoun, with the argument that (I'm simplifying it, of course, so that the margin can hold it) consistent use of "he", say in scientific writing, discourages women from participating. What always amazed me is that in European countries with a solid track record of feminism, such linguistic issues do not matter. In German, the use of "Mann" is common, there are many female nouns derived from the masculine forms, e.g. "die Hackerin" (discussed on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2908972 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2908972, akin to the -ess ending in English), etc. In French, even if there is only one male in a group, it is referred to using the masculine plural. Many more examples can be given (the "your son" vs "your child" mistake in the title being another one), which to the US ear would be cases of sexism. Yet, this "sexist usage" does not seem to have the negative consequence on female performance in Europe. What gives?

richardg 15y ago

This is a great app.. Just bought it! Makes me take a look at Lua too..