2006-09-14 #1

Easy Programming for Children (w. pics)

A recent article on Salon, which was commented on at Slashdot, bemoanes the lack of easy beginner programming environments on modern computers. Back in the early 80's, most computers started up directly into a BASIC interpreter so getting with programming was relatively easy. Today it is much harder. Java is much simpler than something like C++ and MFC but it's still a large language with a huge API. Hardly the ideal candidate for an entry-level programming language.

It's important that we still have easy and compelling entry-level programming environments if we want to compel people to enter into programming. If they don't then there won't be any more programmers, programming, or programs.

Two environments that I've tried with my kids are Logo and Squeak. I bought the following two books to help:

The Great Logo Adventure This is a really great book.

You can also find a link to a downloadable version of this book and the Logo interpreter that they use here (along with some other good logo links).

You can try out Logo without installing any software by using either the LogoWiki or one of many Logo Applets.

Squeak: Learn Programming with Robots

I was disappointed with this book as it doesn't cover very much material and isn't nearly as interesting as the logo book.

There's also the very BASIC-like Kid's Programming Language.

One of the problems that I've noticed with teaching my children programming is that a lot of the difficulty comes from just remembering the keywords and syntax. The following two systems: Star Logo TNG and Scratch take a different approach which helps to overcome that problem. They both use graphical rather than text-based syntax. The advantage is that the programmer is always graphically presented with the meaningful options. No keywords to remember and no syntax errors (if it isn't correct, the GUI just doesn't let you build it). I haven't tried either of these systems yet but I look forward to it.

Star Logo TNG

Scratch

So while computers don't boot directly into BASIC anymore, I still think that there are plenty of great(er than BASIC) introductory programming environments out there.

P.S. Other languages with structured editors inlude Alice and Boxer.