I think that 'I like turtles' guy was just evangelising for Logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) ) at a young age.
I fondly remember getting a Commodore 64 for christmas and having endless fun with programs like: 10 print "This is neat!" 20 goto 10 And a C64 isn't exactly the pinnacle of user friendliness. I wasn't 4 either, though. Don't remember exactly. More like 7 or 8. If you can get a child to be at least passably comfortable with a computer, I bet at 7 you can introduce logo and get somewhere. It sure beats C64 basic, where to clear the screen or move the pointer around, you had to print (as in System.out.println) whacky characters. The inversed heart meant clear screen, I still remember that one. And you didn't have to close string quotes, and memory was at a premium (64k, heh), so you'd write stuff lke: 10 PRINT"❤ (but imagine the heart is reversed) and -that- passed for programming back then. On Feb 21, 6:21 am, Steven Herod <[email protected]> wrote: > We have a two and a bit year old who enjoys sitting next to my wife or > I and requesting "Thomas... Computer!" (Thomas the tank engine's > website). > > He's also mastered unlocking my iphone and starting apps. Luckily he > doesn't know my iTunes password. > > In about 12 months I'd probably consider picking up a 2nd hand iBook > or a low end netbook for him. > > About 10 years ago I watched a friends 4 year old boot Linux, start > XWindows and then run a game. > > It sort of a little experiment, what is the earliest a child can > actually make meaningful use of a computer? Is there such a thing > as 'Toddler Linux' ? > > Dianne Marsh wrote: > > See the "Open Letter thread ..." for the gender issue. I promise I'll > > reply to that but I wanted to say that > > 1. I didn't feel hijacked. I've done it myself by changing the subject > > and not remembering that the thread would get modified > > 2. I think that the computers for toddlers topic is interesting too > > 3. I'll just restart the toddler thread here. > > > I have to get some stuff done before the end of the day, and I'm > > holding out hope that I can get home for Pizza/Movie night with the > > kids. EEK! > > > Dianne --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
