I can suggest "Instant BASIC: Freeze-dried Computer Programming: Jerald R. Brown" as a good kids entry-level text. Like numerous other 1980s era DIY computer books, it's probably available for free download from archive.org. I also have a spare copy.
And BASIC is great, but as soon as the kid grasps the concepts, move him to Perl or Python ASAP. Basic -> Perl is very easy, heck you can even use line numbers if you want.. and it's a far more useful language in the modern environment. On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 12:49 PM, william degnan <billdeg...@gmail.com> wrote: > Trombetta wrote a book > "BASIC for students using the IBM PC" > > > On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 1:29 PM, Ali <cct...@ibm51xx.net> wrote: > > > So somewhat OT - I've setup an 8 year old w/ an IBM PC XT w/ CGA. To say > he > > is less than impressed is understating things :). However, I am > determined > > that he will learn basic computer terminology, architecture, history > (i.e. > > how we got here) and at least get his feet wet with programming by > learning > > BASIC this summer. > > > > Apparently teaching is not my strong suite - while I can talk about a > > larger > > number of the above topics, especially at his level, organizing them in a > > way to make sense is the problem. I was wondering if anyone could > recommend > > a good book that gets the basic stuff out of the way (what is the CPU, > > memory, storage, etc. what are different the parts called, etc.) and > maybe > > another one that teaches an intro to BASIC written for a very young > reader? > > It would be nice if the book is in the PD or at least available as a PDF > > that way he can read it on his Kindle. However, I am not averse to > buying a > > physical new (or used book) either. > > > > Thanks. > > > > -Ali > > > > > > > > > > > -- > @ BillDeg: > Web: vintagecomputer.net > Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> > Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> > Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm> >