From: Benjohn Barnes <benjohn@...>
Date: 2007-02-12T06:55:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Getting my sister to learn programming


On 11 Feb 2007, at 15:12, SonOfLilit wrote:

> Yes, but I want to teach her an environment where if she comes to  
> me and
> wants to program, say, a GUI, or a game, or a website, I can show  
> her how.
>
> With Squeak, I haven't figured out the only simple task I've ever  
> tried to.
>
> That isn't a good sign...

Do you have to pick one language? When people decide to write a game,  
or GUI or website, they use different languages, generally. So why  
not pick the right tools for the job, and encourage her to do the same.

I think you did excellently starting with Logo. Maybe you should  
teach her a bit more of that, and actually get her doing graphics on  
her own. I'd favour languages with a low barrier before results -  
that's what I favour in work too. Logo is good for that in the right  
domain. Ruby is good in others. c has a few places too. Excel can be  
pretty cool for learning, even.

Perhaps learning several languages can be part of the fun. I don't  
think it'll make the task harder either. It's more likely to be easy  
because she'll be seeing the same concept from different points of  
views and settings.

Good luck :)

Cheers,
	Benj