Yeah, once you open quotes, cursor and special keys become printable. That was so you could put the special characters into your PRINT statements. i remember that we didn't have a joystick on the C64 at school. but since the keyboard matrix and joystick ports are one in the same, we could play Ghettoblaster by pressing down about 7 keys in various combinations to activate the 4 directions and fire.
My 3 year old can fully operate the set top box, DVD player and TV. My wife commented on how even she didn't know how to change DVD languages. She can also start VMware on the mac, select the Windows image and start Dora's Lost City Adventure. I didn't teach specifically, her she just watched me do it. On Feb 22, 10:15 am, Peter Becker <[email protected]> wrote: > I think I was 13 or 14 when I got my C64 and I was utterly confused > about the way it behaved sometimes, printing funny characters instead of > cursor keys and the like. I actually returned it since it was broken, > only to learn later that that is the way it behaves -- if I recall > correctly it uses some funky representations for non-printable > characters like the cursor movements while a quotation is in place. Or > something like that. > > I've seen quite a few newer projects in the spirit of Logo. This one > looks very cool:http://scratch.mit.edu/-- but I haven't really spend > too much time investigating since I suspect that at the time Lucie can > handle Tuxpaint things might have changed :-) > > The one thing that would have excited me back in the teenage days would > have been the Mindstorms and the like. I used to dream of getting the > C64 interface for my fischertechnik > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischertechnik), but that was too > expensive. The fischertechnik stuff still exists at my mum's place, I > wonder if Lucie is ever going to play with that -- she likes her Duplo, > so I have my hopes up. > > Peter > > Reinier Zwitserloot wrote: > > 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
