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I remember trying to program some BASIC back in 1st grade, which was 31 years ago. I was terrible at it, but I was hooked. Fast forward to today: my 4th grader
by wiremine 11y ago
I remember trying to program some BASIC back in 1st grade, which was 31 years ago. I was terrible at it, but I was hooked.
Fast forward to today: my 4th grader asked me the other day which language he should learn, and I was stumped. I ran through the languages I know well in my head: Java, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Javascript, Go, Swift... Wasn't sure what to tell him. His expectations are fairly high, due to Minecraft and video games and whatever.
So, on one level I agree with the author: Python (or Ruby) is probably the closest to the original feel of BASIC. You can dive into simple statements without wrapping it in a class. You don't need to worry about functional vs. OOP or methods or functions. You can just write some code.
But, as I thought about it, I realized my son already _is_ programming. He's just using Minecraft's red stones. It isn't turing complete, but it has basic input and output.
What I'd love to see is something like Minecraft, but with a more accessible programming environment. There are a few tools out there that do it, but the gap between the visual building experience and the programming experience is way to wide. I want him to click on a block and write 3 lines of code to change the color and give it some behavior.
tl;dr - Minecraft is the new BASIC for most kids today. It just isn't a very good BASIC.
- vbezhenar 11y agoI think minecraft red stones are turing complete. Someone built a simple processor with those red stones.
- wiremine 11y agoAh, good to know! Got any links?
- fauxfauxpas 11y agohttp://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/redstone-discussion-and/348979-working-cpu-with-ram-branching-etc-save-added http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/re...
- rasz_pl 11y agoHow about minecraft written in python? https://github.com/fogleman/Minecraft https://github.com/fogleman/Minecraft https://github.com/boskee/Minecraft https://github.com/boskee/Minecraft or python bindings to original minecraft http://www.jjinux.com/2013/05/drawing-sierpinskis-triangle-in.html http://www.jjinux.com/2013/05/drawing-sierpinskis-triangle-i... http://python-minecraft.readthedocs.org/en/latest/contents.html http://python-minecraft.readthedocs.org/en/latest/contents.h...
- hcarvalhoalves 11y ago> It isn't turing complete It is!
- davidrusu 11y agoI'd suggest processing for kids starting out. It gives them the visual feedback they need to get hooked. I got a 14yo to build a particle system in < 4hrs and after that he was hooked.
- societyofmind 11y agoScratch or Snap are exactly what you are looking for. Squeak is one level beyond that.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> tl;dr - Minecraft is the new BASIC for most kids today. It just isn't a very good BASIC. To be fair, BASIC wasn't a very good BASIC either.