Scratch was my introduction to programming, around 6 years ago. Since then, I've graduated with a degree in CS and co-founded a successful (and growing) softwar

Scratch was my introduction to programming, around 6 years ago. Since then, I've graduated with a degree in CS and co-founded a successful (and growing) software-house startup. Without having discovered Scratch, I'm not sure I would have decided to do Computing at A-level. No A-level, No CS degree. No degree, no startup. In my case, it was the perfect way to learn about some of the important principles that underpin programming, without necessarily realising that it was happening. Scratch just allowed me to be creative with ideas for simple games. You can take away a lot of the cornerstones of imperative programming (loops, variables, booleans, conditionals) but also evented programming concepts; which will make sense straight away in a language like Javascript. My father is a Head Teacher at a primary school in the UK and has introduced it into the ICT curriculum to great effect. There are primary age children (< 10 years old) starting to experiment with Ruby and Python at school, as a result of positive experiences with Scratch. It's is also how I interested my younger brother in programming and he in turn took A-level computing and has applied to study CS at University. I don't think Scratch was as much of a factor in his story, but it was certainly his starting point. Overall, I think it's a fundamental stepping stone that children should have the chance to try at school. It represents the opportunity to find out whether you enjoy programming. Until I picked it up, it had never crossed my mind that I might. Hats off to the Scratch team!