[theoapps]

I think a good intro to programming is video games, especially ones that let you build custom maps (for me it was Age of Empires and Starcraft). All the units and such can be seen as a huge metaphor for object-oriented programming. With some games you can also add in custom scripts. Of course this doesn't teach practical skill, but at least can get them thinking of the concepts while engaging them with something more exciting than hello world or a calculator.