[Qball522]

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about a good language for my 10 year old daughter to start learning. I am learning java ATM but I am only beginning to understand it myself and in no shape to try to teach someone else.

I do understand programming to an extent.

Show I start her out in Basic? is there something else that would be better/easier for her to get the starter concepts?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

[William_Wilson]

For a 10 year old, I might suggest html then add some css and javascript. html shows output without much learning and can let her feel accomplished, even if the output isn't all that useful. I know when I learned my first language it was painful to write line after line to get nearly no results. It will let your daughter get a feel for structure etc especially as she moves into javascript. Then she can decide whether to stick with web development or platform languages and whether to move into more complex languages like PHP, Java, etc.

Just my 2 cents.

[homemade-jam]

Assembly?

Nah, there are a couple of programs I've seen that let you program traffic light sequences etc. helps tech the initial logic that is used in systems.

[abgorn]

Sams Teach Yourself Programming with Java is a magnificant book for beginning. I started it when I was 12 (I'm 13 now) and it hepled me loads.

[Qball522]

William_Wilson, on 26 Oct, 2008 - 08:23 AM, said:

For a 10 year old, I might suggest html then add some css and javascript. html shows output without much learning and can let her feel accomplished, even if the output isn't all that useful. I know when I learned my first language it was painful to write line after line to get nearly no results. It will let your daughter get a feel for structure etc especially as she moves into javascript. Then she can decide whether to stick with web development or platform languages and whether to move into more complex languages like PHP, Java, etc.

Just my 2 cents.

I don't know anything about html or javascript. Would it be hard to look into them for me and help her with it?

[Moonbat]

http://www.w3schools.com/ - This is one of the best places to learn web languages like HTML, PHP, and CSS.

I'd start her off with HTML. Like William_Wilson said, it's easy to get results quickly. Also, it has an easy syntax, and there's no logical statements involved to confuse people.

After HTML, I would move on to PHP. By now she should be able to learn the features of a real programming language (as opposed to a markup language like HTML).

When starting someone off in the world of programming, CSS is kind of superfluous. I would worry about that later.

[gabehabe]

HTML for a beginner. Then a little CSS, and then maybe a high level language, such as C#.NET ~ I know that sounds a little crazy, but C# is a very basic language to learn (IMO) and the syntax is very friendly. Starting with console stuff, looping, conditions, etc.

Plus, she could start GUI design pretty quickly since you get a design view. Just drag/drop all the components. Like I said, the syntax is very friendly, too.

I also used some software that jam mentioned, I can't remember what it's called but it basically gets you to program some traffic lights using flow charts~ Very useful for teaching logic.

I'd be willing to step in as a tutor. PM me if you're interested.

[muskowiec]

It's pretty hard to understand programming code logically for 10 yo kid, if she really want to learn, I guess she should start with HTML and then Turbo Pascal.

[jacobjordan]

VB.NET For the win.

I started out programming in VB.NET when i was 11. Take it from a 13 year old who actually remembers what it is like to be 10. VB.NET is the best choice you could make for your daughter to learn Windows programming. It is a very high level language, and is very user-friendly. VB.NET is a good choice to teach her the fundamental principals of object oriented programming, as it kinda shields the user from all the down and dirty part of programming. Then, she can work her way down to C#, or C++. Visual Basic is also an option too, but i really recommend VB.NET.

This post has been edited by jacobjordan: 26 October 2008 - 09:49 PM

[Amadeus]

Although many here may be surprised, i would agree with the recommendation of either VB or VB.NET for a young child. the VB language was originally designed to allow people with no background in programming to to begin in the filed - with widgets that take care of all the actual 'behind the scenes' work, it allows the user to focus on the end goal of learning the basics of programming. In short, the Vb languages were designed specifically for situations like this.

[Qball522]

I will have to look into html, and I know I have VB 2008 floating around on a disk somewhere.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions.

[absynthe]

What I would do would introduce her to key concepts before jumping into a language. The best, I believe, to do this would be "Alice". Its based on Alice in Wonderland (characters) and she would love it! Its a completely free download as well

http://www.alice.org...e/what_is_alice

Here is a little bit about it

"Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects.

In Alice's interactive interface, students drag and drop graphic tiles to create a program, where the instructions correspond to standard statements in a production oriented programming language, such as Java, C++, and C#. Alice allows students to immediately see how their animation programs run, enabling them to easily understand the relationship between the programming statements and the behavior of objects in their animation. By manipulating the objects in their virtual world, students gain experience with all the programming constructs typically taught in an introductory programming course."

[no2pencil]

homemade-jam, on 26 Oct, 2008 - 11:35 AM, said:

Assembly?

HTML wasn't invented yet when I was 10...

*back in my day*

Damn now I feel old. Who'm I kidding? I felt old this morning too! It was right before the coffee.

Crap, I'll brb, I have to go chaise some kids off my lawn.

[absynthe]

no2pencil, on 27 Oct, 2008 - 07:10 PM, said:

homemade-jam, on 26 Oct, 2008 - 11:35 AM, said:

Assembly?

HTML wasn't invented yet when I was 10...

*back in my day*

Damn now I feel old. Who'm I kidding? I felt old this morning too! It was right before the coffee.

Crap, I'll brb, I have to go chaise some kids off my lawn.

Poor little bastards!! They dont know who they're messing with

[Hyper]

absynthe, on 27 Oct, 2008 - 07:16 PM, said:

no2pencil, on 27 Oct, 2008 - 07:10 PM, said:

homemade-jam, on 26 Oct, 2008 - 11:35 AM, said:

Assembly?

Crap, I'll brb, I have to go chaise some kids off my lawn.

Poor little bastards!! They dont know who they're messing with

Damn straight they have no idea who they're messing with, somebody who's going to "CHAiSE" them!! Hope he 'catcihes" them!