Programming

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Advice needed, son wants to learn how to program (self.programming)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by foofiepie to c/[email protected]

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Hi all,

My 8 year old is asking if he can learn how to program. He has asked specifically if I could set him up with a ‘programming kit with lessons’ for a Christmas present. I’d like to support this, and it seems like it’s not a transient interest as he’s been all over scratch, and using things like minecraft commands for the last year. I have an old (pre 2017) MacBook Air I can set up for this. How do I / what would you advise I set up for him, to a) keep him safe online (he’s 8!) and b) give him the tools he needs in a structured way.

I am not a programmer. I know enough bash/shell and basic unix stuff to be dangerous and I was a front end dev a very long time ago, but I wouldn’t call myself a programmer and don’t know what concepts he needs to learn first.

Hugely appreciate any advice, thanks.

Edit: So I posted this then had a busy family day and came back to so many comments! I will methodically go through these all, thanks so much.

A couple of things on resources: he has expressed interest in 3D worlds and I noticed comments on engines, but wonder if that’s too advanced?

Totally agree with the short feedback loop rather than projects that take days.

He has an iPad 6 and I’m happy to pop a Linux distro on the Air, so certainly open to that.

So many links to research. Hugely grateful.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Get a breadboard. Get a bunch of wire for it. And do small projects with the breadboard in a controller. It's fun to move the wires around. You can even build a tiny 8-bit computer with a breadboard. And have a do things like output of display. It's very tactile and hands-on. Excellent visual. There's excellent YouTube tutorials up there for breadboard projects.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0N5baNlQWJCUrhCEo8WlA

This guy has some excellent breadboard projects. Find an easy one. And do it together with your child