Hello World! 199
| Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners | |
| author | Warren and Carter Sande |
| pages | 430 |
| publisher | Manning |
| rating | 9/10 |
| reviewer | JR Peck |
| ISBN | 978-1933988498 |
| summary | Computer programming for kids and other beginners. |
Language choice can be quite a hot topic amongst us geeks. In the preface Warren defends his choice of Python with a bullet list I'll summarize here.
- Python was created from the start to be easy to learn.
- Python is free.
- Python is open source software.
- Python is not just a 'toy' language.
- Python is multi-platform.
- Warren likes Python and thinks others will like it too.
I think the list is pretty solid. The only one I think may not be directly applicable to the case it hand is the FOSS angle. Warren explains that being open means that more can be done with the software and that there is a large set of corresponding code out there freely available. A case could be made that this is also true of more closed languages. The one thing I think that could make this important is if the teacher of the material is interested in not just teaching the technical side of programming but is also interested in communicating the philosophical values of freedom. In light of the amount of closed source software and ignorance in regards to FOSS options I've seen in the public school system where I live, I think this may be more important than some think.
The rest of the reasons though I think make Python an incredibly solid choice, and above all else is the simplicity. My daughter has been able to have fun typing code into IDLE without having to get hung up with a complicated environment. The syntax is clean and simple, there is no compiling, it's very easy to just jump in and start making things happen. I think this is important, the younger the student. I was concerned that nine might be just a touch too young for this undertaking. The book itself does not make any recommendations concerning age. The more I've thought about it, the more I agree with that choice. Children vary so greatly and any number chosen would be rather arbitrary. My nine your old has done well so far, but she is already quite a book worm and leans towards more academic pursuits. An older child may struggle and there may be some that are even younger that would be fine with the material in Hello World! So rather than focus on age I think a parent needs to come at this from a perspective of ability, proclivity and experience.
In the ability area, a child is going to know how to read, work with a mouse, and type things via the keyboard. Of course the mouse is optional strictly speaking but most will probably want to use it. Some math skill would be good as well as the ability to understand the use of variables. The book tackles the necessary material in a kid friendly way but it is not dumbed down. In fact the learning potential here is huge, as one may imagine. The book is formatted with lots of visuals and fly-outs that give information on how computers operate and how programming languages deal with information processing. My daughter and I have already had interesting discussions on subjects like integers and floats. An example that draws a sine wave lead to a great teachable moment about amplitude and wave length. Then there is the constant need for approaching problem solving in a structured manner using logic. I think that taking on programming brings a wide number of benefits.
One of the features, is a little caricature of Carter that is placed throughout the book with observations that the real Carter made as he learned with his dad. These are things that a real kid noticed, and so they are likely to stand out to a child working through this book. For instance in the chapter on "Print Formatting and Strings" Carter says, "I thought the % sign was used for the modulus operator!" The book explains that Python uses context to choose how the % sign is used. There are other little cartoon characters that appear throughout the book drawing attention to important points that need to be remembered. Learning is reinforced through quizzes at the end of the chapters. The chapters are not too long but I've found that my daughter and I have to break them into sections because of her typing speed. I've been tempted at times to move things along by typing for her but I know that she will not get the same benefit from the exercise if we do it that way. I will also let errors slide by at times to allow her the opportunity to look at error messages and find the problems.
As I mentioned the book is billed as being for kids and "other beginners." I'm going to say that the primary focus is rightly on kids, and probably kids who are in grade school or maybe junior high. This is not to say that the examples and information wouldn't be great for anyone brand new to programming. There are even some nuggets for someone who has written some code but is new to Python. I am going to guess though that the average high school student will not be as taken with the cartoons and puns. I'd have loved to have written my own lunar lander game at that age though, so maybe I'm selling this short, or maybe it would be something a teen would be happy to work on away from the eyes of others, so as not to appear childish. (I may take heat for this but even as a teenage geek I was immensely worried about the perceptions of my peer group.) I think an adult that was serious about learning to program, even if they had no prior experience, would do better with heavier material. All that said, I think for children they've really hit the sweet spot and as much as marketers would like it to be so, no book can be everything to everyone.
Things start simple with print statements and loops that took me back to good old days of watching messages scroll endlessly by on display computers at Sears when I was a kid. The move towards games starts even then with text and quickly moves on to leveraging Pygame for games that utilize graphics. I think this is important as it keeps things entertaining while teaching important concepts at the same time. I have to say it is quite a bit fun to sit with my child discussing nested loops and decision trees. By the end of the book examples will have included a simple virtual pet, a downhill skiing game and a lunar lander simulation.
I've discussed a child's ability a bit but I think the last two things I mentioned must be taken into account as well. They are proclivity and experience. I've let my daughter drive the time we spend working on this. Just like the parents who project their sports dreams on their kids, I think there is a possibility to do the same with my love for all things digital. It may even be easier to do so as I view the ability to do some amount of programming to be an important life skill. The thing is I don't want to push her too hard and have her back away from it completely. This fits in with the experience part. We take it as it goes, and if things stop being fun, we will back off. I don't do this with her core disciplines from school like reading and math, but for something that is extra right now I'm not going to push. It would transition from being a joy to being work. That brings up a last and unexpected benefit from Hello World! I'm rediscovering a lot of the fun and excitement that drew me into this industry in the first place.
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sounds like a great book! (Score:5, Funny)
Going to be very disappointed if I get stuck. "This is so simple, even a child can do it! Someone get me a child, I can't make heads nor tails of it!"
Re:C is the only starting language (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, I remember my first days of trying to get anything to work in C. (This was in the days of DOS, before Windows). Hopeless! I'd be trying to program Hello World or a very small addition to hello world like type in a character, and have to reboot the PC because I overwrote system memory :-)
Re:You missed the point of your own story (Score:5, Funny)
Shouldn't you be trying to emulate your father by moving beyond your comfort zone and bringing home something that will inspire your kids to pursue their own interests rather than yours?
You mean like bringing home hookers, guns, or anything similar that might lead them to a fruitful career?
The beauty of this book (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds familiar... (Score:1, Funny)
"Hitting middle age has been an interesting time. I catch myself thinking about how well kids have it today and sounding a lot like my father. One difference is while my dad was happy to teach me about horses or goats, we never spent any time hooking up pipes together. I think he did realize that indoor plumbing was important and I will always be grateful for the commode he brought home one day. It was a substantial purchase for our household. I spent many days excreting feces and flushing the results down the toilet. In my home today we have a considerably better situation, plumbing wise. There are usually a couple showers running as well as the jacuzzi upstairs. My kids take for granted what I found to be amazing and new. Still, that's all pretty normal and I'd like to give them an opportunity to go deeper if they are so inclined, just like we give them opportunities to explore other skills and pursuits. With that in mind I brought a copy of Hello Plumbing! home a few weeks ago, and the response from my oldest has been surprisingly enthusiastic."
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You missed the point of your own story (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sorry but what do guns and hookers have to do with each other?
Pimps.
Re:Thank you! (Score:3, Funny)
>> It's like that with every generation. My dad rode a mule to school, I had a school bus. Today's kids (some of them anyway) have air conditioning in the classrooms.
You had a school bus?! I had to wait for the district's bus to pick me up. Man, I wish I had my own school bus then. That would have been fun.
-dZ.
Re:Not Python! (Score:5, Funny)
So you don't have to argue about brace styles :-)
Re:You missed the point of your own story (Score:2, Funny)
If you don't influence your kids, fucking Toys'R'Us will.
I'm a Toys 'R Us kid you insensitive clod!
Re:Thank you! (Score:3, Funny)
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.
Teaching a parent BASIC... (Score:2, Funny)
When I had my CBM64 I really wanted my dad to join in the fun of me learning to program - he seemed quite interested but this is how the conversation went...
ME: So, dad, we're going to print the phrase "Hello Dad" on the screen then print loads of them - it'll be fun
DAD: OK
ME: To print something we use the PRINT command so to print this phrase we type 10 PRINT "HELLO DAD" - 10 is the line number - like a number in an instruction book.
DAD: OK - But why PRINT?
ME: Errr, because that's the command...
DAD: Hmmmm, OK
ME: To print it loads we then type "20 GOTO 10", this means it will GOTO line 10 and print it again..
DAD: Why GOTO
ME: Errr, because that's the command...
DAD: OK
ME: now we can run it by typing RUN (Hello Dad scrolls up the screen)
DAD: Why RUN?
ME: Oh FUCK OFF - you're like a 3 year old!
That was the end of my dad's programming.