programming for kids and teens

Programming for kids and teenagers

My first program: The first programming language I ever used was the LOGO programming language. I was put in a classroom with computers (which I think where vic-20s or Commodore64s) and all us kids were playing with the computers… nobody was teaching us…   most kids were playing video games. I loaded up a floppy with LOGO, and started moving the “turtle”(a triangle that moved on the screen, leaving a trace of where it was before) if you typed forward 100 it wold make a 100 pixel line up from the starting point, then you could tripe right 90 and it would turn 90 degrees, then go forwards again, and you would have a right angle, repeat those steps again and you would have a square….   That was my first taste of programming…. Unfortunately I would not have easy access to computers until I was 12 years old.

When I was 12 years old, my family bought me a computer in the United States,  but I had to wait for it to come to Mexico.  and when my uncle finally brought it, he only brought the keyboard! this is not surprising, since this computer was a 286, which had a desktop CPU, and computers before that were only keyboards and you usually hooked them up to the TV. so he did not bring the CPU or the monitor :)   so I had to wait a long time until I finally got my computer!

In the meantime I had quit Secondary school, it was not really for me. My mom tried to sign me up for a private “programming school”   which was exclusively for adults…   at first they did not want to let me in, but my mom cut a bargain with them so that they would give me a 1 month trial period, and if I did well, they would let me continue, otherwise I was out….   I did really well, so I was able to continue….
I remember the first thing I was taught in the school, I was the only one able to answer the question… something like this:
“If you have a frog hopping up from the bottom of a well, the well is 10 meters high, the frog hops 3 meters, but slips 1 meter each jump, how many steps will it take for the frog to get out of the well?”   (I will let you think of the answer)   but this kind of thought, is exactly what is needed to be a programmer…  you need to think like a computer…   because computers are really stupid,   you tell them what to do, and they will always follow your instructions, but if your instructions are incorrect, the computer will make a mistake.

Eventually I immigrated to the US, and I got a GED, and then went to the New England Institute of Technology at Palm Beach, (the Palm Beach branch has closed now, only the original school exists at present) where I got an A.S. in computer programming technology and several certifications that finally “proved” that I know programming,   but, to be honest, programming is nothing you can ever master,   there are always deeper depths you can learn, and several directions you can take. I am definitely still learning even now. In fact, the more I know, the more I notice that I have just scratched the surface! even after making 3dpl and the Arduino retro computer and several other programs.

 "Which programming language should I begin with?”

This is a very touchy topic when talking to programmers, and the answer that usual programmers will give you can range from “Start with C++” to “start with Haskell” to “start with LOGO”.    us programmers will never agree on which programming language you should start with, but one thing I would recommend is; don’t learn only one programming language! learn many,  they are not so hard, and the more you learn, the easier it gets to program in other programming languages.

I recommend the “baby steps” process, where you learn the easy parts of programming before you lean the hard ones. kind of like learning arithmetic before you learn algebra.
recommended path of study:
Scratch->3dpl-> Python->any other language

Scratch is a programming language developed by MIT, which uses blocks like lego blocks to define the different blocks of code you can use, for example, loops are a block, if statements are a block.
By putting together blocks you make up your program…  it also interestingly has the main functionality of LOGO, my first programming language, you can use the PEN DOWN block, and make scratch draw lines with the move and turn blocks.

I definitely recommend this (especially for children)  but also for anyone that can’t pick up on the basics of programming. I have met some people that it seems like they need to take a step back before taking a step forward, learn how to crawl before you lean how to walk.
“what does ‘learning a language’ mean?”
there are apparently 2 approaches to what “learning a language” means…  #1 is: you need to learn every single aspect of a language until you know every nook and cranny of that language.
#2 is: You just need to learn the bits of a language that you will be using.

While #1 seems appealing to some people, I don’t agree with it…. I don’t think most people can or should “master” a language,  they only need to know enough to complete the task at hand…  and if another task comes up, they will need to learn what they need for that task.
I think there are at least 2 problems with the approach of #1,   first that almost nobody can memorize something perfectly and second that even if you know everything about a language, you still don’t know every algorithm possible with the language.

So I am a big advocate of #2,    if you want to become a master of #2 you need to get good at learning new things quickly… google and stack overflow are your best friends, and when that fails, go to the ##programming, #friendly-coders, #learnprogramming IRC channels or to the IRC channel specific to the programming language you are using (on the freenode IRC chat network)


“To use debuggers or not to use debuggers that is the question!”

A debugger is a program that lets you run your program step by step, while looking at the values of the variables inside your code….

I am alarmed at how many programmers actually diss the ice of a debugger, and this is not only beginners.  even Linus Torvalds thinks that debuggers are bad…. I think it is because he belongs to the group of people that think that you must master every part of a programming language before you even start coding….  he thinks that if you can’t spot your programming errors that you are not worthy of coding the code.

I would definitely say “debuggers are your friends!”, They are a tool I could not go with ought…


The story of the stupid little servant boy:

to be continued...