On Sat, 2006-11-11 at 09:41 -0800, Gary Thornock wrote: > --- "Dr. Scott S. Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I have 3 boys, ages 10, 8 and 6. I'd love to find something > > that would 1) teach them how to touch-type, and 2) introduce > > them to programming > > That raises another question: What's a good age to start? I'm > fairly sure that it would be too early if I tried to teach > programming to my 4-year-old. (If nothing else, she needs to be > able to read, spell and do simple addition first.) > > Dave mentioned that he started programming in high school. So > did my wife. I started at about 7 or 8. So maybe there's not > a single right time. But if not, what's the minimum, and how > do you tell when a child is ready to enjoy learning simple > programming?
I'm not sure. I first began programming in 1st grade. My parents recognized that I was fascinated with the computer (an IBM PC) and bought me a book that was for children, introducing me to simple loops and if/then statements. The book targeted Bill Gates' BASIC interpreter, but also had versions available for Apple II and C64. So maybe it's just recognizing that a child might be interested in something and help them learn a bit more about it and see where they go. I think modern video gaming systems really do a lot to retard a child's interest in really learning and discovering. All I had was books and toys. My first program I wrote ever (I was 5 or 6) would ask for my age, then print how many years it would be until I went on a mission. Eventually we got CGA graphics and I enjoyed drawing lines. It was about this time (3rd grade) that I was using a logo program on our school's Apple IIs, which I found out later had actually been written by my Uncle in Utah (we were in Alberta -- not sure how the code migrated up there!). I learned a basic understanding of angles. I was interested in what made the program tick, so I tried to write my own logo implementation. However I hit an immediate problem. How does one plot a line at an arbitrary angle using square coordinates? This led me to discover rudimentary trigonometry while still in elementary school. Of course BASIC trig functions are all in radians, which I had no concept of. But I did manage to hack together routines that would plot a line at an arbitrary angle for an arbitrary distance. Somehow if I could recapture that excitement and channel it into my future children that will some day be great. Michael > > > /* > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > Don't fear the penguin. > */ > /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
