Programming language for children

[Piper]

If you want to make C fun, set out in Standard Everyday English a menu to 
cover as much of what C does for us as you can.

"When a programmer says he or she is having trouble writing a program, you 
can safely bet that the real problem is designing a suitable solution. 
Writing the code, once a programmer understands the language is not a 
significant problem" - From "A Complete Guide to Mastering the C Language" 
by Augie Hansen.

A text like Prata on C teaches you code writing and not programming. The fun 
begins when you realize that if Hansen is correct then a program can be 
written which will do the code writing. Call it a "metaprogram" if you want 
or the mother of all programs. If the programmer in the Hansen statement 
above speaks English then that programmer "understands the language" (eg C) 
in English. Then logically what C does can be written out in English and it 
can be boiled down to English menus which spit out the C code when used 
correctly.

Off topic for this list but if anyone wants to go into it seriously, there 
are other lists.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "marc" <gmane at auxbuss.com>
To: <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 11:51 AM
Subject: Re: Programming language for children


> Kjetil Halvorsen said:
>
>> I want to try to learn my daughters some programming language. (they are
>> 13,14 years)
>> In earlier times I would have thought about logo. What programming
>> language, available in ubuntu,
>> would you propose for this in our time?
>
> Pretty much all languages are available to you; just an install away.
> Remarkable, really.
>
> Definitely avoid the c/c++ route. You want to make it fun, I suspect. You
> need to be a qualified geek for c to be fun, and a sadomasochist to enjoy
> c++.
>
> Folk here have suggested python, and I think that's a great choice.
>
> One thing I don't agree with here is the avoidance of an IDE. Modern IDEs
> are superb tools that do a huge amount of donkey work for you and
> organise your work. And they're fun!
>
> -- 
> Best,
> Marc
>
> "Change requires small steps."
>
>
> -- 
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: 
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>