From: Phil Hagelberg <phil@...>
Date: 2006-06-13T02:28:32+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby for Highschoolers?

why the lucky stiff <ruby-talk@whytheluckystiff.net> writes:

> DO NOT TRY TO WRITE A GAME.

I'm a bit curious about why you suggested this since writing a game
seems to be precisely the way many beginning programmers learn. (Or at
least it was in the days when practically every computer had QBasic.)
Is it because you'll get sidetracked by graphics concepts (which don't
really have much to do with the fundamentals of programming) or is
there another reason?

It seems if it's done right, writing a game can be a very engaging way
to learn. Perhaps it would be better if the incidentals (like
graphics) were abstracted away--perhaps handled by a program written
by the instructor on one machine hooked up to a projector, while
students only communicated with it over DRb, and thus wouldn't have to
think about things like rendering.

-Phil Hagelberg

http://technomancy.us