I found this article to be absolutely fascinating: http://akaimbatman.intelligentblogger.com/wordpress/archives/42
I don't have any kids to raise yet so I don't know exactly what the states of computers and computer games are currently. But if they are anything like the popular entertainment games, I can see how the glitz and glamor of both the game itself and the operating system get in the way of the education process. His article on a C64 teaching his kids math, reading, and even programming skills is very interesting. In fact, the experiences his kids are having on the C64 reminds me very much of my own experience when I was 6 years old. My dad bought a brand new IBM PC for business purposes. After showing me a few simple games, and how to navigate BASIC and DOS, I was off. I received a book on programming BASIC it was all down-hill from there. The computer fascinated me and with my little programs it was just (as far as I knew) me and the hardware. Arguably I never really started to do major programming until junior high school when I got my first compilers (for BASIC) and then taught myself C and C ++. And then my CS degree gave me the foundation to really create things using a programming language. I just haven't seen young people really "catch the vision" like it seems that me and most of my geeky friends did back in elementary school. Not saying that waiting to learn computer programming in University is bad. Just that it seems computers don't inspire the young people as much anymore. Maybe returning to the C64 is just the ticket. Thought I'd share this link. I may have to see what a full-screen C64 emulator does for my kids. The Apple II was a great educational platform too... Anyways. Michael /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
