I'd focus as much on the "soft" side of learning -- finding a good cohort of people that they can socialise and learn with. I think younger people generally prefer things which are reasonably applied -- robotics, building a web page, things that have a good feedback loop. I'm biased and think that Python is basically the best language for almost anything. It has a great community, and is very accessible. It's great for web, robotics, algorithms, games -- just about anything. On 25 January 2015 at 20:44, Bob <forums@wtaustralia.com> wrote:

Hello all, I am looking for some opinions on how to best support the development of coding skills in a child who is interested. I'm not sure if this is the correct forum or should it be Luv-talk?

He has built a Kano computer (Rasberry Pi based) and followed the programs it provides. As a next step I am looking at Code Academy which offers tutorials in about 6 languages. Could someone please offer a view as to where is best as a starting point, or is there perhaps a better route to follow? Does he start with web languages and then progress to Ruby or Python?

All advice would be most welcome.

Thanks

Bob

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On 25 January 2015 at 20:44, Bob <forums@wtaustralia.com> wrote:

Hello all, I am looking for some opinions on how to best support the development of coding skills in a child who is interested. I'm not sure if this is the correct forum or should it be Luv-talk?

He has built a Kano computer (Rasberry Pi based) and followed the programs it provides. As a next step I am looking at Code Academy which offers tutorials in about 6 languages. Could someone please offer a view as to where is best as a starting point, or is there perhaps a better route to follow? Does he start with web languages and then progress to Ruby or Python?

In your situation I'd recommend starting with python (3.4 or greater) due to its clarity, power, wide use and availability of tutorials that are probably better structured than those for "web languages". There is an extremely helpful and supportive community here: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor Things that may help: 1) Learn to use mailing lists and their etiquette, including searching their archives. It can be done, it is not unusual to see young people asking on that list, sometimes with the help of eg a parent. 2) Realise that the all the Python reference docs are quite formal, with sparse examples. If you need reference examples or pointers to good tutorials (or anything else) ask on the mailing list. 3) Use a decent editor that is able to display whitespace if required (and line endings if working on non-unix-like OS). 4) I get the impression that non-unix-like OS installation can be a bit fiddly. But countless people are doing it successfully so, again, just ask on the list. 5) Also, this discussion might be relevant: http://www.raspberrypi.org/learning-python-with-raspberry-pi/

Bob <forums@wtaustralia.com> writes:

I am looking for some opinions on how to best support the development of coding skills in a child who is interested.

How old? Are we talking three, or twenty-three? My standard advice is to start with equal doses of SICP and either K&R 2e or a CISC assembly. The former coming "down" from pure math & the latter coming "up" from elec eng. But that assumes about secondary school level training, e.g. SICP lectures begin with symbolic differentiation.