|
I completely agree with this. Starting with something he's interested in will be key for holding his interest.
My suggestion is Lego Mindstorms. What kid doesn't like building with Legos, and these are Legos you can program with.
Yes, it'll be in Java, but he's not going to know the difference between it or any other language to start with.
|
|
|
|
|
Walter Bates wrote: My suggestion is Lego Mindstorms...Yes, it'll be in Java...
The last time I played with EV3, there was no language involved, only building blocks.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
|
|
|
|
|
Get him one of the new Raspberry Pi 2's and start him off with either Python or C/C++. Has a large following, lots of hardware to chose from and they're fun.
New version: WinHeist Version When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
agree - and you can even do C# on some of these beasties 
|
|
|
|
|
Supposedly you can put Windows 10 on the new Pi, I haven't tried it yet, you have to have Windows 10 on the PC and I believe VS2015, I have W10 on a VM but haven't installed VS2015 yet. Got to many other irons in the fire right now.
I've been converting some of my Arduino Uno/ATMega code to run on the Pi 2 using Python. Just learning Python, know a little Linux and learning a lot about the Pi since getting it a few days ago. I was lucky traded my neighbor some electronic hardware for the Pi...sweet!
New version: WinHeist Version When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
Gets my vote 
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adafruits a good outfit, I've been buying stuff from them for several years now and they keep getting better. They not only sell the boards and such but provide firmware/software to control them.
New version: WinHeist Version When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
I agree with Mike Hankey's suggestion - I'm working 'in the field' - and foresee a large need for people who understand these boards, and people who can use them - wether that's Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Intel Edison....
The advantage of any of them is you can get things happening 'right now' - so much like your first 'hello world' in whatever language, you can get LEDs to blink and get a result quickly. Sparkfun (& others) sell starter kits, then all you need is a computer (Windows, Mac), the Arduino (for example) IDE and you're off - its only 'upwards' from there
Your son's world of the future will all be about interacting with it - its a good start - then he can go to c# on the Raspberry Pi
|
|
|
|
|
great ideas! Time to go shopping. Confession - terribly interested in these myself.
What could go wrong? My credit, his curiosity? 
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
|
|
|
|
|
Games with Python from one of the books available here:
www.inventwithpython.com
(Sorry, for some reason, hyperlink doesn't seem to work in the Lounge).
-- modified 25-Sep-15 8:31am.
|
|
|
|
|
I"d grab Unity and teach him c# and build a 3d game as a project.
PooperPig - Coming Soon
|
|
|
|
|
Or go for Unreal Engine. They have a graphical scripting engine.
For understanding how a program works I think its pretty cool.
|
|
|
|
|
charlieg wrote: He's playing with the idea of robotics
Someone else mentioned the Arduino - I'd second that as they do a starter kit[^] with a breadboard, bags of electronic components, wires, a motor, a few sensors, etc.
The manual is pretty good too with quite a few projects to help get things up and running.
How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
modified 31-Aug-21 21:01pm.
|
|
|
|
|
I wish I had one of those when I started programming
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cheers, I just fixed it
I bought one for my kid to get started with. It's a great mix of electronics and programming, I'm hoping to have a play around with it myself when I get time
How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
modified 31-Aug-21 21:01pm.
|
|
|
|
|
The starter kit it cool, but it can become a bit boring after a while. After owning a few kits this one is my favorite:
Tracked Dev Kit
Originally I bought This one but purchased the additional items separately. I also have a bunch of NetDuiono kits which are a boat load of fun too.
In addition to the programming side, the basic electronics is just as much fun. I even like soldering together components.
|
|
|
|
|
Well it is a starter kit Once you've got past the "starter" phase you should be moving on to bigger and better things.
I like that tracked dev kit - even better that it doesn't come with any code so the user has to work it out! 
How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
modified 31-Aug-21 21:01pm.
|
|
|
|
|
As long as the clock projects don't make their way to school 
|
|
|
|
|
Well it does come with a digital display, ideal for a countdown I'd say.. 
How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
modified 31-Aug-21 21:01pm.
|
|
|
|
|
Advice I got from my former boss at a medical research facility? Go into robotics and AI. There will be no shortage of jobs that both pay well and challenge you to continue to learn and grow. If he has any interest in it, give him the means to explore, learn, and most importantly enjoy it.
For the love of your deity of choice do not be like my dad. He gave the impression that it doesn't matter if you are happy with your job or not. It is your job and you should do it because that is what defines who you are as a person.
|
|
|
|
|
lol - "diety of choice" - cleaning laptop screen now. Yes, there are jobs that pay $$ which you hate and jobs that don't pay that you love... then there are those jobs that pay $$ and you love (like mine).
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
|
|
|
|
|
I would have killed for one of these as a high schooler.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
|
|
|
|
|
charlieg wrote: Ideas for first project?
Whatever gets him fired up enough to stick with climbing the programming learning curve long enough to start to do interesting things. I usually suggest games based on my experience, but whatever works.
When I used to teach Java to HS students, the very first in-class lab was to compile a provided program. The program we provided was "wumpus". It was a very simple text game -- we told the user to enter a number between 1 and 10 to indicate which room they want to look for the wumpus in, we read that number, then compared it to a hardcoded answer. If they picked the right number, we printed out that they found the wumpus, if they didn't, we printed out that they didn't find the wumpus. End of program. We gave them 30 minutes to do the lab, and by the end of it we had them hooked -- we usually had all 20 students asking us how to extend it, each in their own unique way.
We used that program to introduce variables, boolean expressions and if statements, loops, user input, etc. Each lesson had an in-class lab, and most of the students immediately returned to that original wumpus game code to add some new feature, often based on what they'd just learned.
So yeah, whatever fires him up enough to hook him. I'd suggest you start simple like our wumpus game did -- maybe give him a program that asks whether the robot should move forward straight, forward left, or forward right, then moves it. Then start helping him extend it to do more interesting things with the robot.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
