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Thanks! This is a good idea. I was thinking about typing games and such because he needs to learn words before doing anything useful, but guessing games are def

Thanks! This is a good idea. I was thinking about typing games and such because he needs to learn words before doing anything useful, but guessing games are definitely fun, too. I can definitely write simple games using QBASIC (was preparing a Dospian on Rpi 4 as his 6 years old birthday gift). Do you have any blog, or any recommendation of books to read for such topics? Maybe I can find some "Programming for kids" book back from the 90s. I find teaching kids in general very hard, much harder than teaching myself because kids don't have the cognitive capacity as an adult.

vunderba 4mo ago
My parents got me this QBASIC book when I was in elementary school and I remember it being pretty accessible even for very young readers. https://www.abebooks.com/Absolute-Beginners-Guide-Qbasic-Perry-Greg/32365693594/bd https://www.abebooks.com/Absolute-Beginners-Guide-Qbasic-Per... Also the Usborne series are classics and a lot of them have been made freely available: https://usborne.com/us/books/computer-and-coding-books https://usborne.com/us/books/computer-and-coding-books
- markus_zhang 4mo ago
  Thank you! That's an expensive book. And looks like all QBASIC books are like that because they were rare to find anyway. Maybe I'll just leverage my programming experience and build something using online tutorials and a Dosbian box.
  - vunderba 4mo ago
    Haha yeah that's a pretty stupid price. You can get it on eBay for $12 but you'd better bid fast because I'm sure it's going to be a very competitive auction. :) https://ebay.io/m/zzT1Xf https://ebay.io/m/zzT1Xf
hnlmorg 4mo ago
To be honest I just picked moments when the kids were bored and wanted daddy time but weren’t buzzing around the house with excess energy to burn. It wasn’t something I specifically planned in advance for. Which meant though whole experience was less like homework for them. As I’m sure you know, sometimes kids just want to experience the stuff their parents do. And when they’re in that kind of mood it’s a lot easier to sit that at a computer than it would be normally.
- markus_zhang 4mo ago
  Thanks. I think I'll prepare that Dospian box, learn QBASIC myself quickly, and let him try it out gradually. At least he should get some typing and arithmetic "game" experience, even when he is too young for any programming.

vunderba 4mo ago

My parents got me this QBASIC book when I was in elementary school and I remember it being pretty accessible even for very young readers. https://www.abebooks.com/Absolute-Beginners-Guide-Qbasic-Perry-Greg/32365693594/bd https://www.abebooks.com/Absolute-Beginners-Guide-Qbasic-Per... Also the Usborne series are classics and a lot of them have been made freely available: https://usborne.com/us/books/computer-and-coding-books https://usborne.com/us/books/computer-and-coding-books

markus_zhang 4mo ago
Thank you! That's an expensive book. And looks like all QBASIC books are like that because they were rare to find anyway. Maybe I'll just leverage my programming experience and build something using online tutorials and a Dosbian box.
- vunderba 4mo ago
  Haha yeah that's a pretty stupid price. You can get it on eBay for $12 but you'd better bid fast because I'm sure it's going to be a very competitive auction. :) https://ebay.io/m/zzT1Xf https://ebay.io/m/zzT1Xf

hnlmorg 4mo ago

To be honest I just picked moments when the kids were bored and wanted daddy time but weren’t buzzing around the house with excess energy to burn. It wasn’t something I specifically planned in advance for. Which meant though whole experience was less like homework for them. As I’m sure you know, sometimes kids just want to experience the stuff their parents do. And when they’re in that kind of mood it’s a lot easier to sit that at a computer than it would be normally.

markus_zhang 4mo ago
Thanks. I think I'll prepare that Dospian box, learn QBASIC myself quickly, and let him try it out gradually. At least he should get some typing and arithmetic "game" experience, even when he is too young for any programming.