coding for a ten year old

badcompany · 14 Sep 2013 at 09:59

Son has interest in Learning to code what is a good way forward?
Python I think this may be s bit hard at the moment.
HTML
Or something else?
I would like him to get a general idea of the concepts involved.

Th3M8dH8tt3r · 14 Sep 2013 at 10:44

Start him on HTML and CSS. Good easy languages to get a grip on how a computer program runs and get him used to working in a coding language.

AJK · 14 Sep 2013 at 11:16

HTML and CSS are not programming languages. If your son has an interest in creating web pages, then by all means start him there, but he'll learn nothing about "how a computer program runs" from that.

Importantly, what are his interests - I mean, what's got him interested in learning to code? What do you/he mean by "learning to code" - what kind of coding?

Have you considered a toolset designed specifically for introducing children to programming concepts? I've heard some good things about Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/), though can't say I've used it myself.

Code Club may also be an option? (https://www.codeclub.org.uk/)

gregorius · 14 Sep 2013 at 12:14

badcompany said:
Son has interest in Learning to code what is a good way forward?
Python I think this may be s bit hard at the moment.
HTML
Or something else?
I would like him to get a general idea of the concepts involved.

I would go with Python; in particular, perhaps start him off with the "Invent with Python" series at http://inventwithpython.com/pygame/ or possibly Jason Briggs' "Python for Kids" (I haven't used the latter, but it gets excellent reviews and is targetted at 10+).

jamesmorris86 · 14 Sep 2013 at 18:36

this website gives a few good ideas to get started.

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Teach_a_Kid_to_Program

mk17 · 15 Sep 2013 at 11:27

You might want to take a look at Scratch from MIT. A friend of mine in work said his (8 or 9 year-old) kid is using it. It may be too easy for your son, but it's supposed to teach the fundamentals.

After that I'd suggest some html, or even visual basic, where he can see the visual side of what he's doing rather than focussing on algorithms.

UncleRuckus · 15 Sep 2013 at 16:32

Yeah scratch would be great for your son, you can do neat things like animations and games with it too.

Lwills · 16 Sep 2013 at 11:44

Well a bit off the wall but you could always look at Lego Mindstorms. It's essentially Lego kit with a load of sensors and servo motors, controlled but a central programmable unit. The programming can be viewed and done in 2 ways, through a drag and drop GUI or as code, and being Lego they step you through the basics surprisingly well until you're good to have a go at making your own.

Even at the GUI level, he'd be introduced to logic, loops, variables etc. and if he was to eventually get into it in a big way you can use third party IDE's like visual studio with C#

Have a read up on it and see if it would be useful to him, a lot of schools have looked into it as it's fun and aducational. Oh and don't worry about it being too childish for a 10 year old, there's a site where you can upload your creations and a good chunk of the best ones are made by working engineers. Have a look at some of the projects people have made.

Lwills · 16 Sep 2013 at 12:00

Example of the GUI programming environment

http://theresaneil.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lego1.jpg

Example of the Coding environment

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bQ4jRXX1d9M/TNFIoNqF3SI/AAAAAAAAAHs/gOi3qjfuljo/s1600/RobotC_05.jpg

yer_averagejoe · 16 Sep 2013 at 17:23

Heh, was going to suggest the same thing if he is more into hands on kind of stuff. However, Scratch is a little more flexible and closer to a programming language while still being visual.

I need a mindstorms kit! V3 is out this week I think?

Lwills · 17 Sep 2013 at 09:38

Yeah I saw the new one! Looks awesome

I had the NXT set a good few years ago now and every time I see what people are doing with the projects it makes me wanna dust it off

swiftmetal · 17 Sep 2013 at 10:30

try this website it is an awesome learning tool http://www.codecademy.com/

Scougar · 17 Sep 2013 at 10:44

You could try Alice by the guys at Carnegie Mellon : http://www.alice.org/index.php

About: http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=what_is_alice/what_is_alice

Would give some visual basis to see that you are building something.

jsmoke · 17 Sep 2013 at 11:13

Get him onto C++, the basics are not that difficult.

Epoch · 17 Sep 2013 at 12:33

swiftmetal said:
try this website it is an awesome learning tool http://www.codecademy.com/

+1 for this one. Site is pretty decent at taking you through step by step.

dfarrall · 17 Sep 2013 at 18:02

jsmoke said:
Get him onto C++, the basics are not that difficult.

For a 10 year old they really are..

Python or ruby would be my choices, both fairly simple and very powerful

jsmoke · 18 Sep 2013 at 15:53

dfarrall said:
For a 10 year old they really are..

Python or ruby would be my choices, both fairly simple and very powerful

Maybe, maybe not, declaring variables, operators, loops, syntax, functions, arrays, some I/O.

Should be able to create a text based adventure game.

uniQ · 18 Sep 2013 at 15:57

Scratch is an obvious choice but I would personally suggest Python.

No Starch Press have a good book:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781593274078

D.P. · 18 Sep 2013 at 19:02

jsmoke said:
Maybe, maybe not, declaring variables, operators, loops, syntax, functions, arrays, some I/O.

Should be able to create a text based adventure game.

Although the basics of C__ are not any harder than other languages something like Python will allow easy continuation onto more advanced topics.

Plus there is a very natural understanding to Python syntax and the dictionary.

Code:

Names = ["John", "Jack", "Jill"]
if "Janet" in Names:
   print "Janet is a valid Name"
elif "Janet not in Names:
  print "Janet is not a valid Name"


Ages = {"John":32, "Jack":24, "Jill":"43 but pretends to be 36"}
print " Jack is ", Ages["Jack"], "years old"
print " Jill is ", Ages["Jill"], "years old"

I started programming in C++ at around 12. The big pains are the compilers as well.

Also the advantage of python is the interactive shell allows nice and easy understanding of the basics. And then there is a huge community and many projects designed to teach python to young children.

cupercoff93 · 18 Sep 2013 at 20:14

Start of with the basics. Maybe start of simple with the Android GUI builders.