Comment If it ain't fun, don't do it (Score 1) 1095
Good question, I have two sons, currently 12 and 17, and am going through the same process. Here are some of my experiences.
We went through Lego Mindstorms a couple of years back and it was very helpful. Not "really" programming, I guess, but great fun and introduces some fairly sophisticated parallel event handling concepts without even trying. I mean, it's a robot, a bunch of stuff HAS to work in parallel, right? The kids, as usual, think it's obvious and go about their business of having fun:
Adult: "Wow! Nice LabView setup you've got there!"
Kid: "Can I have my toy back, please?"
So, first the 12yr-old. And the shameful parenting revelation part. At one point I paid him $10/chapter to work through "Java for Dummies", which he did with much delight. The main difficulty was keeping him from taking on the immediate cloning of WoW before actually understanding variables. He also did some of the C and C++ for Dummies books at other times, so yeah, he knows what a pointer is. So much for youthful innocence.
Not much happened after that, till he discovered the Warcraft level builder or whatever they call it. Now he's lecturing me on IF statements at the dinner table. Time to let nature take its course, I guess.
The 17yr-old has done everything from ARM assembler to PHP and Flash at this point. He has done interning at a couple of startups and absolutely gets the programming thing, though certainly with that occasional, and very annoying "I know everything even though I'm a clueless n00b" aura that teens seem to own.
This summer, he had a very manual, outdoors, sweat-all-day-in-the-heat kind of job. That gig ran out so now he is trying to land a job at an ice cream shop where you have to sing and dance if a customer gives you a nice tip. I think it's a great idea. Kind of a good balance too, if you think about it!
I don't know if either of my boys will ever use their programing skills in a professional capacity. I DO know that they consider programming to be one of many valuable life skills, and will never be taken aback when confronted with any C-like programming language.
However, no APL, Forth, or beer until they're 21! At least in my state. I hear tell the Forth age is lower in California ;)
We went through Lego Mindstorms a couple of years back and it was very helpful. Not "really" programming, I guess, but great fun and introduces some fairly sophisticated parallel event handling concepts without even trying. I mean, it's a robot, a bunch of stuff HAS to work in parallel, right? The kids, as usual, think it's obvious and go about their business of having fun:
Adult: "Wow! Nice LabView setup you've got there!"
Kid: "Can I have my toy back, please?"
So, first the 12yr-old. And the shameful parenting revelation part. At one point I paid him $10/chapter to work through "Java for Dummies", which he did with much delight. The main difficulty was keeping him from taking on the immediate cloning of WoW before actually understanding variables. He also did some of the C and C++ for Dummies books at other times, so yeah, he knows what a pointer is. So much for youthful innocence.
Not much happened after that, till he discovered the Warcraft level builder or whatever they call it. Now he's lecturing me on IF statements at the dinner table. Time to let nature take its course, I guess.
The 17yr-old has done everything from ARM assembler to PHP and Flash at this point. He has done interning at a couple of startups and absolutely gets the programming thing, though certainly with that occasional, and very annoying "I know everything even though I'm a clueless n00b" aura that teens seem to own.
This summer, he had a very manual, outdoors, sweat-all-day-in-the-heat kind of job. That gig ran out so now he is trying to land a job at an ice cream shop where you have to sing and dance if a customer gives you a nice tip. I think it's a great idea. Kind of a good balance too, if you think about it!
I don't know if either of my boys will ever use their programing skills in a professional capacity. I DO know that they consider programming to be one of many valuable life skills, and will never be taken aback when confronted with any C-like programming language.
However, no APL, Forth, or beer until they're 21! At least in my state. I hear tell the Forth age is lower in California
