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Kids and computer programming

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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by ojo:
    Fixing things is just a small (and the least rewarding) part of coding. The major benefit of learning how to code is as an outlet for creativity. Using the analogy above, it enables you to create a completely new car that looks as good and goes as fast as you want.
    I agree, but.

    In the 80s and 90s a car had (guess) around 5000 parts and it took a year or two and two guys to build it in a garage. If you'd want to build a modern 2012 car, it will take a whole hall full of engineers with PhD's and 50,000 parts to finish a car from scratch in 5+ years. And A LOT of money.
    Last edited by 100LL; 01-03-2012 at 05:12 PM.

  2. #22

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    Going back to the point of this thread... If HC shows his kids some basics of how to program, and an end product that actually does something - They will either be interested or they won't be. It can do no harm.

    I remember when I loved making stupid qbasic programs which were basically

    input "choose A or B" sub1

    if sub1 = A then print "you are stupid. You smell!"
    if sub1 = B then print "Well done you win! You are the best!"
    goto line 100

    I would then sit there and get people to press A and laugh at them.
    I would always press B - WOOHOO!

    to me that was funny. I'm weird. Meanwhile my brother said he was going to make doom

    He got 300 errors. He was 8... Wait, he must have been 6. I was 9.

    The point is, we loved it. My ambition was to make something that worked and was simple - his was to make something that was good (and at the time it never worked). So that's why he is a programmer now and I'm not - He had more ambition!

    I can't see how it is a problem to teach kids to program without there being any end result other than they learnt a bit about logical thought and MAYBE they will utilise it one day with some kind of end product - maybe not. But it beats playing angry birds

    Last edited by justjoe86; 01-03-2012 at 05:36 PM.

  3. #23

  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    Going back to the point of this thread... If HC shows his kids some basics of how to program, ..
    I 2nd that. HC did Basic & Assembler? he ought to know better,
    There's a passion that programmer's have that I still believe is put there at birth. You either enjoy it or you don't. Kids can work out the technicalities themselves as they grow. Don't believe in all that group work, collaboration BS methods, they're just projects the educators need to make up to justify their pay.

  5. #25

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    Interesting related bit of news from UK this week:
    BBC News - Programming project comes to primary schools


  6. #26

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    Lots of interesting developments in the schools with the Raspberry Pi ...

    Waiting to get my hands on a unit or two to play with for a HD home theater setup.

    By the way one thing my son seems to have become interested in is Minecraft mods. He was not that interested in the scratch project...


  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    By the way one thing my son seems to have become interested in is Minecraft mods. He was not that interested in the scratch project...
    Geez - my 3 have become minecraft mad.
    Thats all they want to do in their spare time while me, the old guy, I just dont get it.
    They've given up on Glee, H2O, HighSchoolMusical and taken up Minecraft.

    I tried to get all of them interested in Lego back in the day (something I grew up with); they were mildly amused but never got into Lego all that much. But now that they discovered MC, they cant stay away from it eventhough its just computerized lego
    shri likes this.

  8. #28

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    @ shri how old is your son? Also, do you know how to get raspberry pi now? Will it become available on shopinhk? :-)


  9. #29

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    +1 for those with Minecraft afflicted kids


    Sent from my GT-I9100 using GeoClicks Mobile


  10. #30

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    >> shri how old is your son? Also, do you know how to get raspberry pi now

    10 years old. Seems like the only way will be to get it through their official distributors.

    Register here to express an interest in Raspberry Pi

    >> But now that they discovered MC, they cant stay away from it eventhough its just computerized lego

    Same with my son. Have had to add minecraft to my Synology NAS to keep him and his friends happy and contained within an environment that is controllable.

    bryant.english likes this.