Re: [Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
What I am looking for is a book thats: 1) simple, and fun enough so that he can learn from it without my continous assistence. (Of course, I can answer questions, but the idea is that I don't want to walk him through all of it.) 2) doesn't look like it is teaching programming -- it should be more like playing with the computer, and having fun style, with the learning programming being a sort of side-effect. Hi Abel, Under those restrictions, you may want to look at John Maeda's Design by Numbers book: http://dbn.media.mit.edu/whatisdbn.html http://dbn.media.mit.edu/ It's not Python, but it does seem interesting. The book itself is a great coffee table book, filled with lots of fascinating pictures. Frankly, it's probably not going to teach many general programming concepts, but it does give a sense of computation, and, of course, it's pretty. ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
At 09:16 AM 9/29/2006, Kent Johnson wrote: I second the suggestion of Python Programming for the absolute beginner, definitely worth a look. Me, too, but make sure it's the 2nd edition. http://www.bestbookdeal.com/book/detail/1598631128/ Dick ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
[Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
Hi! I'm looking for a book to give to my younger brother as a birthday present. He is 13 years old, had some experience with logo (but not much, so he knows about simple instructions and loops, but not about, say, algorithms), and is fairly comfortable around computers. He sometimes mentions that he would like to learn programming, but so far my only attempt to teach him was an absolute failure, due mostly to my total lack of pedagogical skills. (I tried to start with the concept of abstract objects, with predictable effects...) What I am looking for is a book thats: 1) simple, and fun enough so that he can learn from it without my continous assistence. (Of course, I can answer questions, but the idea is that I don't want to walk him through all of it.) 2) doesn't look like it is teaching programming -- it should be more like playing with the computer, and having fun style, with the learning programming being a sort of side-effect. Ideally it would use python, but thats not that strict a requirement, squeak or logo might be acceptable, as well. (Although I'm prejudiced towards python, that being my favourite programming language.) Similarly, being a book isn't a requirement either, so a pdf, or an online tutorial would be fine as well, although a book would be better. I tried to search for such books, but I mostly found 'now we are going to learn programming' types, and I would like something more subtle, and more motivating than that. Any suggestions? -- Abel Daniel ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
If he is into games, you could try to look at Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, from Michael Dawson. It teaches Python through programming a set of simple games. -- Tom, http://www.vscripts.net on Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:54:32 +0200, you wrote: 1) simple, and fun enough so that he can learn from it without my continous assistence. (Of course, I can answer questions, but the idea is that I don't want to walk him through all of it.) 2) doesn't look like it is teaching programming -- it should be more like playing with the computer, and having fun style, with the learning programming being a sort of side-effect. ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
Look here: www.ceebot.com Not a book, but it might be what you are looking for. --- Abel Daniel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi! I'm looking for a book to give to my younger brother as a birthday present. He is 13 years old, had some experience with logo (but not much, so he knows about simple instructions and loops, but not about, say, algorithms), and is fairly comfortable around computers. He sometimes mentions that he would like to learn programming, but so far my only attempt to teach him was an absolute failure, due mostly to my total lack of pedagogical skills. (I tried to start with the concept of abstract objects, with predictable effects...) What I am looking for is a book thats: 1) simple, and fun enough so that he can learn from it without my continous assistence. (Of course, I can answer questions, but the idea is that I don't want to walk him through all of it.) 2) doesn't look like it is teaching programming -- it should be more like playing with the computer, and having fun style, with the learning programming being a sort of side-effect. Ideally it would use python, but thats not that strict a requirement, squeak or logo might be acceptable, as well. (Although I'm prejudiced towards python, that being my favourite programming language.) Similarly, being a book isn't a requirement either, so a pdf, or an online tutorial would be fine as well, although a book would be better. I tried to search for such books, but I mostly found 'now we are going to learn programming' types, and I would like something more subtle, and more motivating than that. Any suggestions? -- Abel Daniel ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] Looking for an edutainment-type introduction to programming book
Abel Daniel wrote: Hi! I'm looking for a book to give to my younger brother as a birthday present. He is 13 years old, had some experience with logo (but not much, so he knows about simple instructions and loops, but not about, say, algorithms), and is fairly comfortable around computers. He sometimes mentions that he would like to learn programming, but so far my only attempt to teach him was an absolute failure, due mostly to my total lack of pedagogical skills. (I tried to start with the concept of abstract objects, with predictable effects...) I second the suggestion of Python Programming for the absolute beginner, definitely worth a look. Also he might be interested in Guido van Robot: http://gvr.sourceforge.net/ Kent ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
