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This is wonderful. I think some of the commenters here are missing the point by insisting that how they learned to code is how everyone should learn. If we're g

by JunkDNA 13y ago

This is wonderful. I think some of the commenters here are missing the point by insisting that how they learned to code is how everyone should learn. If we're going to get to a point where coding is a basic type of literacy like math or reading (and I'm not necessarily saying I agree with that goal), then you have to start small when kids are young. Really young kids need some kind of framework. You can't just throw existing programming books at them and say, "have at it". Do we throw high school level geometry books at kids to teach them shapes? No, we give them all sorts of fun story books that incorporate shapes (and colors, and numbers...) so that they get the basics. I suspect this book is trying to fill in that early gap with respect to programming. My youngest child could count to 10 at 18 months most likely because she insists on me reading the infernal book "Deborah the Dozy Duckling" all the time. It's about a duck that falls asleep while playing hide and seek. The whole book is frankly awful and I hate reading it, but that one page where Deborah's friends count to 10 turned out to grab her for some reason. Books can be very, very powerful learning devices.

danabramov 13y ago
Exactly! I had a 1991-issued book called “Professor Fortran's Encyclopaedia“ in my childhood. It introduced me to computers, modems, viruses and even several BASIC commands in the form of a comic book with funny characters: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Энциклопедия_профессора_Фортрана http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Энциклопедия_профессора_Фортран... I did not learn programming from it (it contained no actual code other than a “hello world”), but it fired up my imagination and introduced me to computery things. I didn't get to have an actual computer until five years later, but when I finally got it, I got into programming immediately. This kind of books is extremely underrepresented and I believe very valuable.
- dtf 13y ago
  Thanks for introducing me to профессор фортран! I'd never heard of him before. Looks fantastic. I agree - the Usborne computer books made a huge impression on me as a youngster. I'm all for Hello Ruby.
- JunkDNA 13y ago
  For me personally it was a book about William Pasteur and his development of the rabies vaccine. That book lit a fire in my mind for molecular biology (though that was not a well known "thing" at the time). To this day I can vividly recall the pictures of the "invisible army" marching through a sick kid's blood vessels. They were drawn as soldiers with bayonets and they stabbed the amorphous black blobby germs. A few years ago I located the book on Amazon. Interesting to see I'm not the only one whose career was influenced by this book: http://amzn.com/0916392066 http://amzn.com/0916392066
  - sanoli 13y ago
    Awesome reading your post! My dad bought this book at a Goodwill when I was a kid, and I still remember how some of my friends thought the title was cheesy (you know, at that age when we're already trying to be adults and macho), yet my dad explained to me how it was actually very important, and how great and important Pasteur and the great lineage of scientists were. Awesome.
- dsarle 13y ago
  Thanks so much for the link! The whole day I was trying to remember this book because it was also this exact book that helped me get interested in computing!
  - danabramov 13y ago
    No problem! Here are the scans: http://trinixy.ru/9306-jenciklopedija_professora_fortrana_25_skanov.html http://trinixy.ru/9306-jenciklopedija_professora_fortrana_25...
Crito 13y ago
My brother use to have a book (well, probably still does somewhere) called The New Way Things Work. It had simple explanations of how tons of different mechanisms work, but it had an entire chapter dedicated to explaining how digital systems could work, using woolly mammoths and various sorts of pie transportation devices. Really brilliant and detailed illustrations throughout. I have always thought it was a wonderfully delightful way to introduce children to those sort of concepts. It was more EE/CE than coding (and the rest of the book was heavily ME), but I think the approach adapts to coding equally well. (http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Way-Things-Work/dp/0395938473 http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Way-Things-Work/dp/0395938473)
specialist 13y ago
Art is how society assimilates progress, converting technology into culture. Of course stories matter. My self image as a proto nerd was largely informed by culture. War Games, Short Circuit, a bazillion scifi stories, popular science mags and books, etc. I may have learned coding from K&R. But I was motivated to learn how by the examples and role models I saw. Liukas's talk at Heroku Waza 2013 (further down the kickstarter page) explains her philosophy and motivation for the book. Having personally spent real effort on messaging, narratives, innovation, and motivating people -- I think her strategy is brilliant.
ht_th 13y ago
> If we're going to get to a point where coding is a basic type of literacy like math or reading (and I'm not necessarily saying I agree with that goal), then you have to start small when kids are young. This type of literacy would be something akin to "computational thinking" and then programming is to computational thinking as arithmetic is to mathematics. Programming shouldn't be an end in itself but a means to develop a deeper understanding of our modern information-rich technological sophisticated society. And yes, in my opinion, in that society one should be able to "program" as much as one should be able to "do arithmetic" or "can read/write". "Programming" can mean a lot of different things to different groups of people, but the basic idea of information processing and automatic repetitive tasks should be understood by all.
rdudek 13y ago
I agree 120%! Can't wait for this book to come out and give it to my daughter. Shoot, I remember back in the 90's when I was still in high school, the programming books I had were so dry that it almost made me want to quit for good (I did take a 10 year break from learning to code and went into real estate investing). Anyone that tells you to learn programming the hard way is full of it. Making programming fun and interesting definitely lowers the entry barrier. Maybe that's why some of the folks feel insecure that some youngin' may learn coding and steal away their job? You just never know!

by JunkDNA 13y ago

danabramov 13y ago

Exactly! I had a 1991-issued book called “Professor Fortran's Encyclopaedia“ in my childhood. It introduced me to computers, modems, viruses and even several BASIC commands in the form of a comic book with funny characters: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Энциклопедия_профессора_Фортрана http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Энциклопедия_профессора_Фортран... I did not learn programming from it (it contained no actual code other than a “hello world”), but it fired up my imagination and introduced me to computery things. I didn't get to have an actual computer until five years later, but when I finally got it, I got into programming immediately. This kind of books is extremely underrepresented and I believe very valuable.

dtf 13y ago
Thanks for introducing me to профессор фортран! I'd never heard of him before. Looks fantastic. I agree - the Usborne computer books made a huge impression on me as a youngster. I'm all for Hello Ruby.
JunkDNA 13y ago
For me personally it was a book about William Pasteur and his development of the rabies vaccine. That book lit a fire in my mind for molecular biology (though that was not a well known "thing" at the time). To this day I can vividly recall the pictures of the "invisible army" marching through a sick kid's blood vessels. They were drawn as soldiers with bayonets and they stabbed the amorphous black blobby germs. A few years ago I located the book on Amazon. Interesting to see I'm not the only one whose career was influenced by this book: http://amzn.com/0916392066 http://amzn.com/0916392066
- sanoli 13y ago
  Awesome reading your post! My dad bought this book at a Goodwill when I was a kid, and I still remember how some of my friends thought the title was cheesy (you know, at that age when we're already trying to be adults and macho), yet my dad explained to me how it was actually very important, and how great and important Pasteur and the great lineage of scientists were. Awesome.
dsarle 13y ago
Thanks so much for the link! The whole day I was trying to remember this book because it was also this exact book that helped me get interested in computing!
- danabramov 13y ago
  No problem! Here are the scans: http://trinixy.ru/9306-jenciklopedija_professora_fortrana_25_skanov.html http://trinixy.ru/9306-jenciklopedija_professora_fortrana_25...

Crito 13y ago

My brother use to have a book (well, probably still does somewhere) called The New Way Things Work. It had simple explanations of how tons of different mechanisms work, but it had an entire chapter dedicated to explaining how digital systems could work, using woolly mammoths and various sorts of pie transportation devices. Really brilliant and detailed illustrations throughout. I have always thought it was a wonderfully delightful way to introduce children to those sort of concepts. It was more EE/CE than coding (and the rest of the book was heavily ME), but I think the approach adapts to coding equally well. (http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Way-Things-Work/dp/0395938473 http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Way-Things-Work/dp/0395938473)

specialist 13y ago

Art is how society assimilates progress, converting technology into culture. Of course stories matter. My self image as a proto nerd was largely informed by culture. War Games, Short Circuit, a bazillion scifi stories, popular science mags and books, etc. I may have learned coding from K&R. But I was motivated to learn how by the examples and role models I saw. Liukas's talk at Heroku Waza 2013 (further down the kickstarter page) explains her philosophy and motivation for the book. Having personally spent real effort on messaging, narratives, innovation, and motivating people -- I think her strategy is brilliant.

ht_th 13y ago

> If we're going to get to a point where coding is a basic type of literacy like math or reading (and I'm not necessarily saying I agree with that goal), then you have to start small when kids are young. This type of literacy would be something akin to "computational thinking" and then programming is to computational thinking as arithmetic is to mathematics. Programming shouldn't be an end in itself but a means to develop a deeper understanding of our modern information-rich technological sophisticated society. And yes, in my opinion, in that society one should be able to "program" as much as one should be able to "do arithmetic" or "can read/write". "Programming" can mean a lot of different things to different groups of people, but the basic idea of information processing and automatic repetitive tasks should be understood by all.

rdudek 13y ago

I agree 120%! Can't wait for this book to come out and give it to my daughter. Shoot, I remember back in the 90's when I was still in high school, the programming books I had were so dry that it almost made me want to quit for good (I did take a 10 year break from learning to code and went into real estate investing). Anyone that tells you to learn programming the hard way is full of it. Making programming fun and interesting definitely lowers the entry barrier. Maybe that's why some of the folks feel insecure that some youngin' may learn coding and steal away their job? You just never know!