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Ask HN: Learning to program in 2015

I'm a professional software developer who recently got back from a trip to Nepal. Whilst I was there I did some trekking in the Himalayas and met a fantastic tour guide whose son has the dream of becoming a software engineer. Unfortunately they don't own a computer, but do have Internet access via mobile phones. I've decided to fix-up an old Macbook (still working on that bit - http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/171126/cant-power-on-without-smc-reset-whilst-holding-power) and donate it. I taught myself to program when I was 12 years old, bouncing between BASIC and C++ as I struggled to understand basic programming concepts. I believe my tour guide's son is around 18 years old, so the things that held my attention may not seem so interesting to him. He probably also has even less experience with computers than I did when I was 12. To further complicate matters, his first language is Nepali; although I am expecting he'll learn to program from English resources. The software world has come a long way since I was 12 - so I'd like to know what resources, software and programming languages are out there for someone learning to program for the first time. I'm talking about starting from the absolute beginning i.e. What is a program? What is source code? What is a compiler? What is a variable? etc.

carlosolmos 12y ago
check out http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://scratch.mit.edu/ and http://code.org/ http://code.org/
- Benjamin_Dobell 12y ago
  Thanks! I knew about Blockly but the community around Scratch seems fantastic.
sinlung 12y ago
there are some paid one from VTC and Lynda
brudgers 12y ago
Some thoughts: + I think this is a great thing to be passionate about. + Though neither OSX or Windows offers full support for Nepali, Windows offers Napali as a display language. [1] + Microsoft also appears to have some presence in Nepal.[2] Apple does not appear to. + I am not suggesting that Apple isn't better for you. What I am suggesting is that the Microsoft stack may be a better commercial option for someone in Nepal. + I'd suggest Linux http://www.nepalinux.org/ http://www.nepalinux.org/ as a first choice over Microsoft, even though the projects for a Nepali Linux are not very active because an older stable distro is fine for learning. Good luck. [1]: http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/installation/downloads/Pages/windows_7_language_interface_packs.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/installation/downloads/Pages... [2]: http://www.micnepal.org/ http://www.micnepal.org/
- Benjamin_Dobell 12y ago
  Thanks for the info! It seems OS X does have some degree of Nepali support; I was able to install a Nepali keyboard when installing Yosemite and can now toggle between keyboards easily enough. It seems to print Nepali characters fine (although I honestly have no idea). I'm thinking I'll install Windows on another partition so that the option is available, in case some software is Windows only. Dual booting on a Macbook is reasonably straight-forward, although swapping OS is likely to be confusing for a newbie. So I probably won't mention Windows being installed unless they contact me saying they're stuck on something.

carlosolmos 12y ago

check out http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://scratch.mit.edu/ and http://code.org/ http://code.org/

Benjamin_Dobell 12y ago
Thanks! I knew about Blockly but the community around Scratch seems fantastic.

sinlung 12y ago

there are some paid one from VTC and Lynda

brudgers 12y ago

Some thoughts: + I think this is a great thing to be passionate about. + Though neither OSX or Windows offers full support for Nepali, Windows offers Napali as a display language. [1] + Microsoft also appears to have some presence in Nepal.[2] Apple does not appear to. + I am not suggesting that Apple isn't better for you. What I am suggesting is that the Microsoft stack may be a better commercial option for someone in Nepal. + I'd suggest Linux http://www.nepalinux.org/ http://www.nepalinux.org/ as a first choice over Microsoft, even though the projects for a Nepali Linux are not very active because an older stable distro is fine for learning. Good luck. [1]: http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/installation/downloads/Pages/windows_7_language_interface_packs.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/installation/downloads/Pages... [2]: http://www.micnepal.org/ http://www.micnepal.org/

Benjamin_Dobell 12y ago
Thanks for the info! It seems OS X does have some degree of Nepali support; I was able to install a Nepali keyboard when installing Yosemite and can now toggle between keyboards easily enough. It seems to print Nepali characters fine (although I honestly have no idea). I'm thinking I'll install Windows on another partition so that the option is available, in case some software is Windows only. Dual booting on a Macbook is reasonably straight-forward, although swapping OS is likely to be confusing for a newbie. So I probably won't mention Windows being installed unless they contact me saying they're stuck on something.