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2130585 comment

Comment My 10 yr old likes Scratch (Score 1) 962

by sidney on Wednesday December 10, 2008 @09:59PM (#26069297) Attached to: Best Introduction To Programming For Bright 11-14-Year-Olds?

My 10 year old started with LOGO, a commercial version called MicroWorlds EX. That would be a good one to try if you have the budget to buy a classroom license. He tried Alice, but didn't care for it much because of limitations on what he could do with it.

He now spends most of his time on Scratch, I think mostly because he gets to upload projects to the Scratch website and share with friends he has made there. Since Scratch is free, teaches all the fundamental principles of programming languages without warping the brain as Basic would, and allows one to immediately create cool graphics stuff and collaborate with other kids, I would recommend it. http://scratch.mit.edu/

Lately he has also started hacking a Javascript tutorial because he wants to learn how to make web pages that do interesting things. I don't think it would be a good first programming language, but you might keep it in mind as an adjunct to a first course. Motivation is as important as the language, and being able to create cool stuff provides that.

1737279 story

On the Economics of the Kindle 398

Posted by kdawson on Sunday November 16, 2008 @05:18PM from the how-much-is-cool-worth dept.

perlow writes "Just how many books a year would you need to read before the cost of Amazon's Kindle is justified? The answer is not so cut-and-dried. If you're a college student and all of your texts were available on Kindle (possible but unlikely), you could recover the cost of the reader in a semester and a half. For consumers to break even with Kindle's cost in that time, they would have to be in the habit of buying and reading four new hardback books per month — if the convenience factor wasn't part of the equation. At two books per month, breakeven would be in three years." Here is the spreadsheet if you want to play with the numbers.

229719 submission

Submission + - Fox News' FTP Password Anyone?

Submitted by Paris The Pirate on Monday July 23, 2007 @06:38AM

Paris The Pirate writes: Jeff Goodman writes "While browsing around the Fox News website, I found that directory indexes are turned on. So, I started following the tree up, until I got to /admin. Eventually, I found my way into /admin/xml_parser/zdnet/, in which, there is a shell script. Seeing as it's a shell script, and I use Linux, I took a peek. Inside, is a username and password to an FTP. So, of course, I tried to login. The result? Epic fail on Fox's part. And seriously, what kind of password is T1me Out. This is just pathetic." Anyone want to suggest a password policy to Fox?

62854 submission

Submission + - Vista DRM: Longest Suicide Note in History

Submitted by enos on Sunday December 24, 2006 @02:41AM

enos writes: Peter Gutmann describes the consequences of Vista's DRM including the intentional crippling of functionality, unnecessary burdens on hardware manufacturers as well as unintended side effects. For example, Vista automatically and silently reduces the quality of audio and video on untrusted devices when "premium" content is present. This can have life threatening consequences when used in medical imaging where the compression artifacts can be misinterpreted.

1487623 story

Under the Hood of Quantum Computing 156

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sunday August 20, 2006 @06:26AM from the fun-facts dept.

nanotrends writes "Gordie Rose, the CTO of Dwave Systems, the venture funded company that plans to offer paid use of a superconducting quantum computer starting in 2007, reveals secrets of his quantum computer construction. It is based on nobium superconducting 'circuits of atoms' and is not RSFQ. (Rapid Single Flux quantum)."

1485287 story

Australia Wants to Regulate Internet Streaming 257

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 06, 2006 @02:54AM from the what-you-streaming-mate dept.

Paul writes "After an incident that occurred on a popular television show's internet stream, the Australian government has once again demonstrated that it simply does not understand the internet by indicating that they intend to regulate streaming video. I wonder what these geniuses plan on doing with porn streamed from Europe?"

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