[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How do you teach 9-year old to code?
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       Ask HN: How do you teach 9-year old to code?
        
       Yesterday my son (will be 9-year old in a couple of months) asked
       if I can teach him to code. Although I am a software engineer, I
       never thought about that.  My question is: If I do, what language
       should I teach my son at first? Currently I'm mostly familiar with
       Rust, and a little Python. I used to write C for 10 years and Java
       for 3 years. I also use Objective-C. I think, as common sense, I
       should use the language I am mostly familiar with (Rust), but I
       doubt that's a good idea for 9-year old.
        
       Author : indepnd
       Score  : 6 points
       Date   : 2022-01-13 22:23 UTC (38 minutes ago)
        
       | TheRealNGenius wrote:
       | There's this toy for the iPad. Don't remember what it's called at
       | the moment. think it's called the Osmo. Seems like a good fit for
       | children
        
       | seumars wrote:
       | I would definitely start with a block-based programming
       | environment just to get started with general concepts like if-
       | statements, loops, and whatnot.
        
         | ss108 wrote:
         | Yeah, I second this. Something like Scratch.
         | 
         | Then move on to an easy to learn language such as Python
         | probably. Simple, no fuss.
        
       | jimmyvalmer wrote:
       | Given its loosy-goosiness and ubiquity in gaming (Roblox), Lua is
       | the inarguable answer.
        
       | iqster wrote:
       | Check our code.org. It feels backwards but I am very impressed.
       | Move onto sphero , then micro-bit and then arduino. There are
       | also decent systems called scratch jr and scratch. Finally, I
       | can't recommend LEGO mindstorms and boost enough.
        
       | jiripospisil wrote:
       | Get him started on something that focuses solely on the
       | programming concepts and the way of thinking without any
       | unnecessary noise (pointers, lifetimes etc.). When I was starting
       | out I attended a programming club/group and we were using Robot
       | Karel. It's a little programming environment where you control a
       | robot and walk him through obstacles.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_(programming_language)
       | 
       | https://karel1981.com/
        
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       (page generated 2022-01-13 23:01 UTC)